As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
So many of my thoughts and feelings are shared by the English that England has turned into a second native land of… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the… — 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
Generally speaking, only simple conceptions can grip the mind of a nation. An idea that is clear and precise even though false… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
A man who raises himself by degrees to wealth and power, contracts, in the course of this protracted labor, habits of prudence… — 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
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
When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it afterward persists by… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Society will develop a new kind of servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated rules, through which… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
I shall not fear to say that the doctrine of self-interest rightly understood seems to me of all the philosophic theories 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 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
