Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes – Insights from a Renowned Thinker

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

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

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.

I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

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

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.

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

I am not so much frightened of my published opinions as I am of those I did not express.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time, one can see the old aristocratic colors breaking through.

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

I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes – Insights from a Renowned Thinker part 2

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

The will of the nation is one of those phrases frequently used but rarely felt.

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

The old saying that there is nothing new under the sun applies to our idea of democracy today.

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

Laws are always unstable unless they are founded on the manners of a nation.

Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.

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

The need for government to be limited is ultimately based on the thought that power is dangerous.

Democracy encourages the majority to decide things about which the majority is necessarily ignorant.

The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.

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

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

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

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

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time, one can see the old aristocratic colors breaking through.

The will of the nation is one of those phrases frequently used but rarely felt.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

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

I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.

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

The old saying that there is nothing new under the sun applies to our idea of democracy today.

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

Despotism often presents itself as the repairer of all the ills suffered, the support of just rights, defender of the oppressed, and benefactor of the nations.

Men are more apt to use their ears than their eyes.

The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.

It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

The love of wealth is that branch of the love of happiness which directly concerns the acquiring of external possessions.

Among democratic nations, each generation is a new people that must acquire anew all the information, ideas, and sentiments necessary to govern.

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