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Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

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Famous Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

“It is certain that despotism ruins individuals by preventing them from producing wealth much more than by depriving them of what they have already produced; it dries up the source of riches, while it usually respects acquired property. Freedom, on the contrary, produces far more goods than it destroys; and the nations which are favored by free institutions invariably find that their resources increase even more rapidly than their taxes.”

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“In the absence of government each man learns to think, to act for himself, without counting on the support of an outside force which, however vigilant one supposes it to be, can never answer all social needs. Man, thus accustomed to seek his well-being only through his own efforts, raises himself in his own opinion as he does in the opinion of others; his soul becomes larger and stronger at the same time.”

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“The territorial aristocracy of former ages was either bound by law, or thought itself bound by usage, to come to the relief of its serving-men and to relieve their distresses. But the manufacturing aristocracy of our age first impoverishes and debases the men who serve it and then abandons them to be supported by the charity of the public.”

MenFirstsAgeLawHe ManCharityBoundsFormerReliefAbandonServingDistressManufacturingAristocracyUsageTerritorial
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“In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect, this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect, from supporting him; but if he attacks all the sects together, every one abandons him and he remains alone.”

IfsMayStatesCharacterTogetherPoliticalUnitedUnited StatesRemainsAbandonPartisansSects
Book:The Republic of the United States of America: And Its Political Institutions, Reviewed and Examined
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“Upon my arrival in the United States the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.”

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Book:Democracy In America -- Vol. 1
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“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.”

PoliticalPoliticsDifferencesCommonLibertyDemocracySeekingEqualitySocialismLiberalismPatrioticRestraintOne WordFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyServitudeDemocracies HaveEquality Of PeopleDemocratic SocialismLiberty And EqualityDemocracy In AmericaLiberal DemocracyRoad To SerfdomCapitalism And Socialism
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“There is in fact a manly and legitimate passion for equality that spurs all men to wish to be strong and esteemed. This passion tends to elevate the lesser to the rank of the greater. But one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom.”

AmericaFreedomEqualSlaverySlaveConservativeEqualityIdeologyFreedom To ChooseEconomic FreedomPolitical FreedomEnamoredAmerica FreedomEquality Of PeoplePrice Of FreedomSlavery In AmericaLiberty And EqualityDemocracy In AmericaMental SlaveryFreedom And EqualityHuman EqualitySlavery Freedom
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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