Democracy does not create strong ties between people. But it does make living together easier. — 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
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
Even despots accept the excellence of liberty. The simple truth is that they wish to keep it for themselves and promote the… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
It profits me but little, after all, that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquility of my pleasures and constantly averts all… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Those who prize freedom only for the material benefits it offers have never kept it for long. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I avow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The more I view the independence of the press in its principal effects, the more I convince myself that among the moderns… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
There are at the present time two great nations in the world--the Russians and the Americans. The American relies upon his personal… — 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
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 Copy Share Image
“Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science;” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“A depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Religion in America . . . Must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions for that country; for if it… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image