The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave. — 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
To build enormous palaces, to conquer or to mimic nature, to ransack the world in order to gratify the passions of a… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
When a monarchy gradually transforms itself into a republic, the executive power there preserves titles, honors, respect, and even money long after… — 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
Nature secretly avenges herself for the constraint imposed upon her by the laws of man. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Men seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set… — 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
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 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
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
It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. — 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
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 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 cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a… — 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
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
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
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
Though it is very important for man as an individual that his religion should be true, that is not the case for… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Among the droves of men with political ambitions in the United States, I found very few with that virile candor, that manly… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I have always noticed in politics how often men are ruined by having too good a memory. — 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
