“Democratic institutions strongly tend to promote the feeling of envy.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Democratic institutions generally give men a lofty notion of their country and themselves. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Amongst democratic nations, each new generation is a new people. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be. — 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
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
In other words, a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Amongst democratic nations men easily attain a certain equality of conditions: they can never attain the equality they desire. It perpetually retires… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The foremost or indeed sole condition required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community is to… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The public, therefore, among a democratic people, has a singular power, which aristocratic nations cannot conceive; for it does not persuade others… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
If a [democratic] society displays less brilliance than an aristocracy, there will also be less wretchedness; pleasures will be less outrageous and… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom… The subjection of individuals… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“I have always thought that in revolutions, especially democratic revolutions, madmen, not those so called by courtesy, but genuine madmen, have played… — 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
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
It is above all in the present democratic age that the true friends of liberty and human grandeur must remain constantly vigilant… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Muhammad professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, but political… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The taste for well-being is the prominent and indelible feature of democratic times. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Men living in democratic times have many passions, but most of their passions either end in the love of riches, or proceed… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I considered mores to be one of the great general causes responsible for the maintenance of a democratic republic . . .… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Among a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living, or is born of parents… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
All revolutions more or less threaten the tenure of property: but most of those who live in democratic countries are possessed of… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 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
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 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
![“[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the inadequate securities…” quote by Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e1/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_country_t-he-main-evil-of-the-present-democratic_3001053.png)
![“If a [democratic] society displays less brilliance than an aristocracy, there will also be less wretchedness; pleasures will be less outrageous and wellbeing will be shared by all; the sciences will be on a smaller scale but ignorance will be less common; opinions will be less vigorous and habits…” quote by Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f96/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_aristocracy_if-a-democratic-society-displays-less-br_963292.jpg)
