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
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
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive… — 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
“Nothing tends to materialise man, and to deprive his work of the faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labour.” — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“according to the economists, the function of the state was not merely one of ruling the nation, but also that of recasting… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“When both privileges and the disqualifications of class have been abolished and men have shattered the bonds which once held them immobile,… — 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
“Aristocracy naturally leads the human mind to the contemplation of the past, and fixes it there. Democracy, on the contrary, gives men… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share Image
“The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits… — 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
I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
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 and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
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 a personal interest in their survival ... all thought the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state. I have no hesitation in stating that… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
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 with beasts and other creatures. By this, man, as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists; it is a liberty to evil as well as to good. This liberty… — Alexis De Tocqueville Copy Share
Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in… — Alexis de Tocqueville Copy Share
