--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The last thing abandoned by a party is…" description: "\"The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology, because among political parties, as elsewhere, the vulgar make the language, and the vulgar aba..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_abandon_the-last-thing-abandoned-by-a-party-is-i_2155518.png" --- # The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology… ![“The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology, because among political parties, as elsewhere, the vulgar make the language, and the vulgar abandon more easily the ideas that have been instilled into it than the words that it has learnt.” quote by Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_abandon_the-last-thing-abandoned-by-a-party-is-i_2155518.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_abandon_the-last-thing-abandoned-by-a-party-is-i_2155518.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/075/alexis-de-tocqueville-625_abandon_the-last-thing-abandoned-by-a-party-is-i_2155518.png) > “The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology, because among political parties, as elsewhere, the vulgar make the language, and the vulgar abandon more easily the ideas that have been instilled into it than the words that it has learnt.” [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Political language changes faster than ideas; parties discard concepts but keep words. **In simple terms:** Ideas fade, words persist. Key Takeaway Preserve ideas, not just rhetoric. Themes politics language ideas Mood critical analytical Type historical political When to use this quote - campaign speeches - public discourse - policy debates Key Concepts sociology political theory Questions to Reflect On - How do you protect ideas in politics? - Can language shape policy? A Different Perspective Words can be manipulated without substance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Language](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language/) [Party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/party/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Political parties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-parties/) [Vulgar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vulgar/) ## Related quotes > [The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-de-tocqueville/the-last-thing-abandoned-by-a-party-is-its-phraseology/) [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-de-tocqueville/) > [I have a habit of comparing the phraseology of communiques . . . noting a certain similarity of words, a certain similarity of optimism…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-thatcher/i-have-a-habit-of-comparing-the-phraseology-of-communiques-noting-a/) [Margaret Thatcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-thatcher/) > [“When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases -- bestial atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/when-one-watches-some-tired-hack-on-the-platform-mechanically-2/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [There's a certain phraseology involved in jazz, and I've moved away from that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-garbarek/there-s-a-certain-phraseology-involved-in-jazz-and-i-ve-moved-away/) [Jan Garbarek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-garbarek/) > [The scholars of Ireland seem not to have the least conception of style, but run on in a flat phraseology, often mingled with barbarous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-swift/the-scholars-of-ireland-seem-not-to-have-the-least-conception-of/) [Jonathan Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-swift/) > [To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-eliot/to-be-candid-in-middlemarch-phraseology-meant-to-use-an-early/) [George Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-eliot/) > [ I like to relish words and sentences, and phraseology, and there's not much facility for that \[playing Maigret\]. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rowan-atkinson/i-like-to-relish-words-and-sentences-and-phraseology-and-there-s-not/) [Rowan Atkinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rowan-atkinson/) > [“His language was, as I say, under great provocation, violent and unusual. 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