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Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

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Famous Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

“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
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and though different men may sometimes find it their interest to combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their pleasure.”

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Book:Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II
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“Muhammad professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines, but political maxims, civil and criminal laws, and theories of science. The gospel, on the contrary, only speaks of the general relations of men to God and to each other - beyond which it inculcates and imposes no point of faith. This alone, besides a thousand other reasons, would suffice to prove that the former of these religions will never long predominate in a cultivated and democratic age, whilst the latter is destined to retain its sway at these as at all other periods.”

MenLongReasonBodyAgeLawPoliticalSpeakHeavenReligiousTheoryPeriodsThousandProveRelationDemocraticIslamCriminalsContraryDoctrineFormerLatterDestinedMaximsNo PointMuhammadCriminal Law
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“Muhammad brought down from heaven and put into the Koran not religious doctrines only, but political maxims, criminal and civil laws, and scientific theories. The Gospels on the other hand, deal only with the general relations between man and God and between man and man. Beyond that, they teach nothing and do not oblige people to believe anything. That alone, among a thousand reasons, is enough to show that Islam will not be able to hold its power long in ages of enlightenment and democracy, while Christianity is destined to reign in such ages, as in all others.”

PeopleMenBelieveLongReasonEnoughShowsHandsAgeAbleLawPoliticalHeavenReligiousDealsChristianityTeachDemocracyTheoryThousandEnlightenmentRelationIslamCriminalsDoctrineReignDestinedMaximsMuhammadScientific TheoryAge Of Enlightenment
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“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
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“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.”

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Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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