Democracy Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

Despotism may be able to do without religion, but democracy cannot.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Amongst democratic nations, each new generation is a new people.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach...

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The will of the nation is one of those phrases most widely abused by schemers and tyrants of all ages.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Democratic institutions generally give men a lofty notion of their country and themselves.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy does not create strong ties between people. But it does make living together easier.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

No men are less addicted to reverie than the citizens of a democracy.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Can it be believed that the democracy which overthrew the feudal system and vanquished kings will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists?

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Nothing is more necessary to the culture of the higher sciences, or of the more elevated departments of science, than meditation; and…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Can it be believed that the democracy, which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings, will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists?

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In democracies, nothing is more great or more brilliant than commerce: it attracts the attention of the public, and fills the imagination…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a democratic period is the taste that all men have for easy success and present enjoyment.…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The progress of democracy seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient and the most permanent tendency which is…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In democratic centuries, on the contrary, when the duties of each individual toward the species are much clearer, devotion toward one man…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“In other words, the government of the democracy is the only one under which the power which lays on taxes escapes the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves they will seek it, cherish it, and view any deprivation of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

“Now, these eager and apprehensive men of small property constitute the class which is constantly increased by the equality of conditions. Hence,…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“The foremost, or indeed the sole condition, which is required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I have an intellectual inclination for democratic institutions, but I am instinctively an aristocrat, which means that I despise and fear the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Democratic institutions awaken and foster a passion for equality which they can never entirely satisfy. This complete equality eludes the grasp of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Aristocracy naturally leads the human mind to the contemplation of the past, and fixes it there. Democracy, on the contrary, gives men…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“It was not man who implanted in himself what is infinite and the love of what is immortal: those lofty instincts are…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“The democratic nations that have introduced freedom into their political constitution at the very time when they were augmenting the despotism of…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“ Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“It is extremely difficult to obtain a hearing from men living in democracies, unless it be to speak to them of themselves.…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Americans of all ages, all stations in life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“In running over the pages of our history for seven hundred years, we shall scarcely find a single great event which has…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Another tendency, which is extremely natural to democratic nations and extremely dangerous, is that which leads them to despise and undervalue the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“The poor man retains the prejudices of his forefathers without their faith, and their ignorance without their virtues; he has adopted the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Our contemporaries are constantly excited by two conflicting passions; they want to be led, and they wish to remain free: as they…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“The chief care of the legislators [in the colonies of New England] was the maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Princes had, so to speak, turned violence into a physical thing but our democratic republics have made it into something as intellectual…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

A great democratic revolution is taking place in our midst.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Democratic institutions strongly tend to promote the feeling of envy.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I considered mores to be one of the great general causes responsible for the maintenance of a democratic republic . . .…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“But a democracy can only obtain truth as the result of experience, and many nations may forfeit their existence whilst they are…

— Alexis de Tocqueville