Quotessence
Home / Authors / Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

Historian

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenStatesAmericaDemocraticIfsDemocracyNationsPeopleLibertyPolitical

Famous Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

“The foremost or indeed sole condition required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community is to love equality or to get men to believe you love it. Thus, the science of despotism, which was once so complex, has been simplified and reduced, as it were, to a single principle.”

MenBelieveHas BeensOrderCommunityPrinciplesConditionsSucceedDemocraticComplexesSupremeSoleDespotismEgalitarianismSupreme PowerOrder To Succeed
Book:Democracy in America
Create image

“A French observer is surprised to hear how often an English or an American lawyer quotes the opinions of others, and how little he alludes to his own; ... This abnegation of his own opinion, and this implicit deference to the opinion of his forefathers, which are common to the English and American lawyer, this servitude of thought which he is obliged to profess, necessarily give him more timid habits and more conservative inclinations in England and America than in France.”

GivingLittlesAmericaLawCommonOpinionHabitEnglandConservativeLawyerFranceObserversInclinationObligedServitudeForefathersImplicitDeferenceAbnegationEngland And America
Book:Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II
Create image

“[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the inadequate securities which one finds there against tyranny.”

DoeCountryStatesEvilUnitedLibertyUnited StatesSecurityWeaknessEuropeRaisesInstitutionsDemocraticTyrannyReignIrresistibleInadequate
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image

“The electors see their representative not only as a legislator for the state but also as the natural protector of local interests in the legislature; indeed, they almost seem to think that he has a power of attorney to represent each constituent, and they trust him to be as eager in their private interests as in those of the country.”

ThinkingCountryStatesSeemsAmericaInterestNaturalLocalsRepresentativesLegislatureAttorneyLegislatorsConstituentsProtector
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image

“In the United States, except for slaves, servants and the destitute fed by townships, everyone has the vote and this is an indirect contributor to law-making. Anyone wishing to attack the law is thus reduced to adopting one of two obvious courses: they must either change the nation's opinion or trample its wishes under foot.”

TwoStatesLawCoursesNationsWishUnitedOpinionUnited StatesFeetVoteSlaveObviousServantFedsAdoptingIndirectContributorsDestituteLaw Making
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image

“Even despots accept the excellence of liberty. The simple truth is that they wish to keep it for themselves and promote the idea that no one else is at all worthy of it. Thus, our opinion of liberty does not reveal our differences but the relative value which we place on our fellow man. We can state with conviction, therefore, that a man's support for absolute government is in direct proportion to the contempt he feels for his country.”

MenFeelsDoeIdeasCountryStatesGovernmentValuesWishDifferencesSimpleLibertyAcceptingOpinionSupportTruth IsDirectAbsolutesFellowsExcellenceConvictionWorthyProportionContemptRelativeFellow ManSimple TruthsDespotsRelative Value
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image

“When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it 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.”

MindFirstsHeartStillsEndsCareViewsEffortOpinionDemocracyTakenDangerousRootsMajorityBottomAcceptedRejectedPersistContests
Book:Democracy in America
Create image

“They all attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country mainly to the separation of church and state. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America I did not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who was not of the same opinion on this point.”

CountryStatesAmericaIndividualChurchOpinionAtheismPositive AtheismSeparationPeacefulChurch And StateDominionSeparation Of Church And StateClergy
Book:Democracy in America
Create image

“Any measure that establishes legal charity on a permanent basis and gives it an administrative form thereby creates an idle and lazy class, living at the expense of the industrial and working class.”

GivingFormPoliticsClassBasesCharityPermanentLazyExpensesIdleWorking ClassAdministrative
Book:Memoir on Pauperism: Does Public Charity Produce an Idle And Dependent Class of Society?
Create image

“I am deeply convinced that any permanent, regular administrative system whose aim is to provide for the needs of the poor will breed more miseries than it can cure, will deprave the population that it wants to help and comfort, will dry up the sources of savings, will stop the accumulation of capital, will retard the development of trade, and will benumb human industry.”

WantNeedsHumansHelpingPoliticsPoorSourceDevelopmentIndustryComfortAimTradeMiseryPopulationConvincedCuresSavingPermanentDrySavingsAccumulationAdministrativeRetardDry Up
Book:Tocqueville and Beaumont on social reform
Create image

“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.”

StillsPastEnergyLostWealthPassionateVicesEndlessEnjoymentHostLeisureWormsPettyCorpsesAristocracy
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image

“The first who attracts the eye, the first in enlightenment, in power and in happiness, is the white man, the European, man par excellence; below him appear the Negro and the Indian. These two unfortunate races have neither birth, nor face, nor language, nor mores in common; only their misfortunes look alike. Both occupy an equally inferior position in the country that they inhabit; both experience the effects of tyranny; and if their miseries are different, they can accuse the same author for them.”

IfsMenFirstsLooksTwoDifferentCountryEyeFacesLanguageWhiteCommonRaceEffectsPositionBirthRacismEnlightenmentMiseryExcellenceTyrannyIndianMisfortunesUnfortunateInferiorsWhite Man
Book:Democracy in America
Create image

“I have no hesitation in saying that although the American woman never leaves her domestic sphere and is in some respects very dependent within it, nowhere does she enjoy a higher station. And if anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women.”

IfsThinkingShouldDoeAsksNationsCausesEnjoyWomenAnswersGrowingHigherExtraordinaryProsperityDuesChiefsAsk MeDependentStationsSpheresSuperiorityMen WomenHesitationAmerican Woman
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
Create image