Quotes By Alexis De Tocqueville

Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.

There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.

There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.

In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.

In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.

The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle.

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.

Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.

It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.

In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned.

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

No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.

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

An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say "Gentlemen" to the person with whom he is conversing.

Life is to be entered upon with courage.

The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.

As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?

Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

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