Power Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

16 Power quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

All Power quotes Alexis de Tocqueville’s page

Alexis de Tocqueville’s musings on power weave together observations of democratic life and the subtle forces that shape it. His keen eye for social dynamics makes each quote a compact lesson in civic responsibility.

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Righteous women in their circle of influence, beginning in the home, can turn the world around.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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“I soon perceived that the influence of this fact”

Alexis de Tocqueville

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The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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Laws are always unstable unless they are founded on the manners of a nation; and manners are the only durable and resisting…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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“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

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The man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he submits to that right of authority which he…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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“I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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When the reality of power has been surrendered, it's playing a dangerous game to seek to retain the appearance of it; the…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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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

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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

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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

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“When a legislator succeeds, after persevering efforts, in exercising an indirect influence upon the destiny of nations, his genius is lauded by…

Alexis de Tocqueville

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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

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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

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“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

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All around you everything is on the move,

Alexis de Tocqueville

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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“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

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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

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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

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The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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“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

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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

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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

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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

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“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

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