The man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he submits to that right of authority which he… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Slavery...dishonors labor. It introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It enervates the powers of the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The happy and powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I see no clear reason why the doctrine of self-interest properly understood should turn men away from religious beliefs. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man's support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In democratic countries, however opulent a man is supposed to be, he is almost always discontented with his fortune, because he finds… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my part,… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the absence of government each man learns to think, to act for himself, without counting on the support of an outside… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Every nation that has ended in tyranny has come to that end by way of good order. It certainly does not follow… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Democracy encourages a taste for physical gratification; this taste, if it becomes excessive, soon disposes men to believe that all is matter… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Among the laws controlling human societies there is one more precise and clearer, it seems to me, than all the others. If… — Alexis De Tocqueville Copy Share Image
When fortune has been abolished, when every profession is open to everyone, an ambitious man may think it is easy to launch… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the United States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Born often under another sky, placed in the middle of an always moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent which draws… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
There is, indeed, a most dangerous passage in the history of a democratic people. When the taste for physical gratifications among them… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It would seem that if despotism were to be established among the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Step back in time; look closely at the child in the very arms of his mother; see the external world reflected for… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In democratic countries as well as elsewhere most of the branches of productive industry are carried on at a small cost by… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things...among democratic nations… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
If men are to remain civilized or to become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in the same… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Nations, as well as man, almost always betray the most prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest years. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
On this waterlogged landscape…are scattered palaces and hovels…It is here that the human spirit becomes perfect, and at the same time brutalised,… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I know of no other country where love of money has such a grip on men's hearts or where stronger scorn is… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Rulers who destroy men's freedom commonly begin by trying to retain its forms. ... They cherish the illusion that they can combine… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
By obliging men to turn their attention to other affairs than their own, it rubs off that private selfishness which is the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all the changes… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal, but it depends upon themselves whether the principle… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A man who raises himself by degrees to wealth and power, contracts, in the course of this protracted labor, habits of prudence… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The civil jury is the most effective form of sovereignty of the people. It defies the aggressions of time and man. During… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details, which must be attended to if rules… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Among these widely differing families of men, the first that attracts attention, the superior in intelligence, in power, and in enjoyment, is… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them;… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
“I am unacquainted with His designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
“There is a twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil or federal. The first is common to man… — Alexis De Tocqueville Copy Share
Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
Despotism often presents itself as the repairer of all the ills suffered, the support of just rights, defender of the oppressed, and founder of… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
On this waterlogged landscape…are scattered palaces and hovels…It is here that the human spirit becomes perfect, and at the same time brutalised, that civilisation… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
