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Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

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Famous Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

“If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change their character by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their strength. And for these reasons I can never willingly invest any number of my fellow creatures with that unlimited authority which I should refuse to any one of them.”

IfsMenShouldMayDoeI CanReasonCharacterNumbersConsciousnessCreaturesAuthorityIncreaseAbsolutesFellowsMajorityRefuseObstaclesUnlimitedAdversariesPossessingLiableReproachMisuseAbsolute Power
Book:American Institutions and Their Influence
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“Above this race of men stands an immense and tutelary power, which takes upon itself alone to secure their gratifications, and to watch over their fate. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare them for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood.”

IfsMenWould BeParentRaceWatchesPowerFateChildhoodMinutesObjectsAuthorityAbsolutesContraryOppressionSecurePerpetualImmenseManhoodGratification
Book:Democracy in America
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“When a monarchy gradually transforms itself into a republic, the executive power there preserves titles, honors, respect, and even money long after it has lost the reality of power. The English, having cut off the head of one of their kings and chased another off the throne, still go on their knees to address the successors of those princes. On the other hand, when a republic falls under one man's yoke, the ruler's demeanor remains simple, unaffected, and modest, as if he had not already been raised above everybody.”

IfsMenLongStillsHandsRealityFallLostSimpleCuttingGoes OnKingsHonorRemainsRaisedTitlesPreservesKneesAddressesExecutivesOne ManRepublicRulersThronesModestMonarchySuccessorsYokeDemeanorExecutive Power
Book:Democracy in America
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“If a [democratic] society displays less brilliance than an aristocracy, there will also be less wretchedness; pleasures will be less outrageous and wellbeing will be shared by all; the sciences will be on a smaller scale but ignorance will be less common; opinions will be less vigorous and habits gentler; you will notice more vices and fewer crimes.”

IfsPleasureCommonOpinionCrimeIgnoranceHabitDemocraticVicesScalesFewerDisplayBrillianceOutrageousWellbeingVigorousAristocracyDemocratic SocietyWretchedness
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“Religion in America . . . Must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions for that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it . . . I do know know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion - for who can search the human heart? - But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.”

IfsKnowsHumansHeartDoeCountryWholeUseAmericaPoliticalCertainNationsPartyOpinionClassCitizensRepublicanTasteInstitutionsSincerePeculiarIndispensableHuman HeartMaintenanceImpartFacilitatePolitical Institutions
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“Democracy encourages a taste for physical gratification; this taste, if it becomes excessive, soon disposes men to believe that all is matter only; and materialism, in its turn, hurries them on with mad impatience to these same delights; such is the fatal circle within which democratic nations are driven round. It were well that they should see the danger and hold back.”

IfsMenShouldBelieveWellsMatterTurnsNationsDemocracyDangerTasteMadDemocraticRoundsDelightDrivenCirclesMaterialismConsumerismGratificationImpatienceOverconsumption
Book:Democracy in America - Vol. I. and II.
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“It would seem that if despotism were to be established among the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; it would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without tormenting them. I do not question that, in an age of instruction and equality like our own, sovereigns might more easily succeed in collecting all political power into their own hands and might interfere more habitually and decidedly with the circle of private interests than any sovereign of antiquity could ever do.”

IfsMenDifferentCharacterHandsSeemsMightWould BeAgePoliticalPoliticsNationsInterestSucceedAssumingDemocraticCirclesInstructionInterfereSovereignCollectingDespotismAntiquityPolitical PowerDegradeDifferent Characters
Book:Democracy in America - Vol. I. and II.
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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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“What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute master of my liberty and my life; if it monopolizes vitality and existence to such a degree that when it languishes, everything around it must also languish; when it sleeps, everything must also sleep; and when it dies, everything must also perish?”

IfsThinkingNeedsDoeEyeDiesSleepPleasureRaceExistenceLibertyPathDangerMastersDegreesAuthorityAbsolutesRemoveSmallestVitalityThornsTranquilLanguish
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“You may be sure that if you succeed in bringing your audience into the presence of something that affects them, they will not care by what road you brought them there; and they will never reproach you for having excited their emotions in spite of dramatic rules.”

IfsMayCareEmotionAudienceSucceedExcitedDramaticSpiteReproach
Book:Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II
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“It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great; I wish that they would try a little more to make great men; that they would set less value on the work and more upon the workman; that they would never forget that a nation cannot long remain strong when every man belonging to it is individually weak; and that no form or combination of social polity has yet been devised to make an energetic people out of a community of pusillanimous and enfeebled citizens.”

PeopleIfsMenTryingLittlesLongUseSeemsFormValuesOrderStrongNationsWishSocialCommunityForgetCitizensWeakEvery ManCombinationOur TimeGreat MenBelongingNever ForgetRulersEnergeticWorkmen
Book:Democracy in America -
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“Democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves they will seek it, cherish it, and view any deprivation of it with regret. But for equality their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.”

IfsStillsPassionLeftCommunityNaturalViewsDemocracyRegretTasteSlaveryDemocraticEqualityCherishInvincibleDeprivationArdentInsatiableIncessant
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot. How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?”

PeopleIfsShouldMayDonePoliticalFaithLibertyMoralMastersDestructionTiesProportionRelaxedDeitiesDespotismSubmissive
Book:Democracy in America
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“The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their Nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so.”

PeopleIfsStatesWould BeTogetherNamesDifficultLibertyConditionsUnionsLibertarianAgreementContractsLibertarianismNationalityUnitingSecessionStates Rights
Book:Democracy in America
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“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.”

IfsMayMeanLongTwoWarStatesShowsLevelsRaceEnemyStruggleRightsRacismRegardSlaverySlaveRaisedComplainingCivil RightsSouthernDeprivedObligedRevoltAbolitionFreemanAbolition Of Slavery
Book:Democracy in America
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“It is odd to watch with what feverish ardour Americans pursue prosperity, ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they might not have chosen the shortest route to get it. They cleave to the things of this world as if assured they will never die, and yet rush to snatch any that comes within their reach, as if they expected to stop living before relishing them. Death steps in, in the end, and stops them, before they have grown tired of this futile pursuit of that complete felicity which always escapes them.”

IfsWorldEndsMightDiesStepsWatchesThis WorldTiredProsperityExpectedPursuitChosenPursueOddSuspicionRoutesAssuredFelicity
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“Because Roman civilization perished through barbarian invasions, we are perhaps too much inclined to think that that is the only way a civilization can die. If the lights that guide us ever go out, they will fade little by little, as if of their own accord.... We therefore should not console ourselves by thinking that the barbarians are still a long way off. Some peoples may let the torch be snatched from their hands, but others stamp it out themselves.”

IfsThinkingWayShouldMayLittlesLongStillsHandsLightDiesLibertyToo MuchCivilizationGuidesFadesStampsLong WayInvasionAccordTorchesBarbariansConsoleRoman Civilization
Book:Democracy in America
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“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
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“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.”

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Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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