Alexis Charles Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

(39 votes)   The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.

Alexis de Tocqueville
French, Scientist Quotes

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(13 votes)   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
French, Scientist Quotes

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(9 votes)   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.

Alexis de Tocqueville
French, Scientist Quotes

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(453 votes)   America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

Alexis Charles Henri Clérel de Tocqueville

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(314 votes)   It is easy to see that, even in the freedom of early youth, an American girl never quite loses control of herself; she enjoys all permitted pleasures without losing her head about any of them, and her reason never lets the reins go, though it may often seem to let them flap.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(217 votes)   Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which still has endless leisure to devote to nothing but banal enjoyments. All its great thoughts and passionate energy are things of the past, and nothing but a host of petty, gnawing vices now cling to it like worms to a corpse.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(166 votes)   When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, if afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(140 votes)   The principle of equality does not destroy the imagination, but lowers its flight to the level of the earth.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(139 votes)   The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(130 votes)   Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(130 votes)   In countries where associations are free, secret societies are unknown. In America there are factions, but no conspiracies.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(118 votes)   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.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(108 votes)   Trade is the natural enemy of all violent passions. Trade loves moderation, delights in compromise, and is most careful to avoid anger. It is patient, supple, and insinuating, only resorting to extreme measures in cases of absolute necessity. Trade makes men independent of one another and gives them a high idea of their personal importance: it leads them to want to manage their own affairs and teaches them to succeed therein. Hence it makes them inclined to liberty but disinclined to revolution.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(105 votes)   I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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(104 votes)   Though it is very important for man as an individual that his religion should be true, that is not the case for society. Society has nothing to fear or hope from another life; what is most important for it is not that all citizens profess the true religion but that they should profess religion.

Alexis De Tocqueville
1805-1859, French Social Philosopher

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