America Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

America is great because she is good.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Of all the countries of the world America is the one where the movement of thought and human industry is the most…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The position of the Americans is quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Useful undertakings which require sustained attention and vigorous precision in order to succeed often end up by being abandoned, for, in America,…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases,…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The Americans make associations to give entertainment, to found seminaries, to build inns, to construct churches, to diffuse books, to send missionaries…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In America one of the first things done in a new State is to make the post go there; in the forests…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

No stigma attaches to the love of money in America, and provided it does not exceed the bounds imposed by public order,…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

If ever America undergoes great revolutions, they will be brought about by the presence of the black race on the soil of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Two things in America are astonishing: the changeableness of most human behavior and the strange stability of certain principles. Men are constantly…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

The character of Anglo-American civilization . . . is the product . . . of two perfectly distinct elements that elsewhere have…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In towns it is impossible to prevent men from assembling, getting excited together and forming sudden passionate resolves. Towns are like great…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

A French observer is surprised to hear how often an English or an American lawyer quotes the opinions of others, and how…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The electors see their representative not only as a legislator for the state but also as the natural protector of local interests…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There is in fact a manly and legitimate passion for equality that spurs all men to wish to be strong and esteemed.…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In America a woman loses her independence for ever in the bonds of matrimony. While there is less constraint on girls there…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“There are at the present time two great nations in the world, which started from different points, but seem to tend towards…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In countries where associations are free, secret societies are unknown. In America there are factions, but no conspiracies.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Better use has been made of association and this powerful instrument of action has been applied for more varied aims in America…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In America, conscription is unknown; men are enlisted for payment. Compulsory recruitment is so alien to the ideas and so foreign to…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I am far from denying that newspapers in democratic countries lead citizens to do very ill-considered things in common; but without newspapers…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The French under the old monarchy held it for a maxim that the king could do no wrong . The Americans entertain…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“The great privilege of the Americans does not simply consist in their being more enlightened than other nations, but in their being…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

America is a land of wonders, in which everything is in constant motion and every change seems an improvement. No natural boundary…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In America, more than anywhere else in the world, care has been taken constantly to trace clearly distinct spheres of action for…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations...In democratic countries knowledge of how…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

But what most astonishes me in the United States, is not so much the marvelous grandeur of some undertakings, as the innumerable…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Christianity has therefore retained a strong hold on the public mind in America... In the United States... Christianity itself is a fact…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Nothing conceivable is so petty, so insipid, so crowded with paltry interests, in one word, so anti-poetic, as the life of a…

— Alexis de Tocqueville