The people reign over the American political world as God rules over the universe. It is the cause and the end of… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
What is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“There is hardly any political question in the United States that sooner or later does not turn into a judicial question. From… — 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
Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions because it loves moderation, delights in compromise an is most careful to avoid… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“The most perilous moment for a bad government is one when it seeks to mend its ways.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
Any measure that establishes legal charity on a permanent basis and gives it an administrative form thereby creates an idle and lazy… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“We must first understand what the purport of society and the aim of government is held to be. If it be your… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
The most perilous moment for a bad government is when it seeks to mend its ways. Only consummate statecraft can enable a… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“patriotism and religion are the only two motives in the world which can permanently direct the whole of a body politic to… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
Nations are less disposed to make revolutions in proportion as personal property is augmented and distributed among them, and as the number… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect, this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect,… — 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
“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 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
“Nothing is more striking to an European traveller in the United States than the absence of what we term the Government, or… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
In politics a community of hatred is almost always the foundation of friendships. — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“Under its sway the transactions of the public administration are not nearly so important as what is done by private exertion. Democracy… — 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
