Religion Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

“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

I see no clear reason why the doctrine of self-interest properly understood should turn men away from religious beliefs.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“[Patriotism] is in itself a kind of religion: it does not reason, but it acts from the impulse of faith and sentiment.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

[R]eligion cannot share the material strength of the rulers without being burdened with some of the animosity roused against them.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Despotism may be able to do without religion, but democracy cannot.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

Freedom sees in religion the companion of its struggles and its triumphs, the cradle of its infancy, the divine source of its…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Remember that life is neither pain nor pleasure; it is serious business, to be entered upon with courage and in a spirit…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

[Liberty] considers religion as the safeguard of morality, and morality as the best security of law and the surest pledge of the…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

In democratic centuries, on the contrary, when the duties of each individual toward the species are much clearer, devotion toward one man…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

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

Religion in America . . . Must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions for that country; for if it…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Laws cannot succeed in rekindling the ardor of an extinguished faith, but men may be interested in the fate of their country…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Men cannot abandon their religious faith without a kind of aberration of intellect and a sort of violent distortion of their true…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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

“The religionists are the enemies of liberty, and the friends of liberty attack religion; the high-minded and the noble advocate bondage, and…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Muhammad professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, but political…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

“Princes had, so to speak, turned violence into a physical thing but our democratic republics have made it into something as intellectual…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

On close inspection, we shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

European Christianity has allowed itself to be intimately united with the powers of this world. Now that these powers are falling, it…

— Alexis de Tocqueville

The character of Anglo-American civilization . . . is the product . . . of two perfectly distinct elements that elsewhere have…

— Alexis de Tocqueville