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Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

“It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.”

Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville was a French historian and political theorist renowned for his seminal work 'Democracy in America'. He embarked on a journey to the United States in the 1830s to examine its democratic institutions, and his observations were compiled into a two-volume book that remains a cornerstone in the study of American democracy and political science. more

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“When a large number of organs of the press come to advance along the same track, their influence becomes almost irresistible in the long term, and public opinion, struck always from the same side, ends by yielding under their blows.”

Long Ends Sides Term Numbers Opinion Influence Presses Track Blow Long Term Organs Public Opinion Irresistible Large Numbers

Book:Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“It is so difficult to draw a clear line of separation between the abuse and the wholesome use of the press, that as yet we have found it better to trust the public judgment, rather than the magistrate, with the discrimination between truth and falsehood. And hitherto the public judgment has performed that office with wonderful correctness.”

Use Found Difficult Lines Clear Wonderful Office Judgment Draws Abuse Presses Separation Discrimination Falsehood Correctness Magistrates Truth And Falsehood

Book:The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin

Source: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin

“From forty years' experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, and almost never worth notice.”

Thinking Years Done Reading Presses Newspapers Forty Falsehood Wretched Daylight Worth Reading

Book:The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1808-1816

Source: The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1808-1816

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”

Real States Facts Lying Situation Known Presses Newspapers Vehicle Suspicious Misinformation

Book:The writings of Thomas Jefferson

Source: The writings of Thomas Jefferson

“As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers.”

Presses Newspapers Abundance True You

Book:Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States

Source: Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Late President of the United States

“A truth now and then projecting into the ocean of newspaper lies serves like headlands to correct our course. Indeed, my scepticism as to everything I see in a newspaper makes me indifferent whether I ever see one.”

Lying Courses Ocean Presses Newspapers Now And Then Indifferent Scepticism

Book:Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson

Source: Selected letters of Thomas Jefferson

“The more I view the independence of the press in its principal effects, the more I convince myself that among the moderns the independence of the press is the capital and so to speak the constitutive element of freedom.”

Speak Views Effects Elements Independence Presses Convince Principal

Author:Alexis de Tocqueville

“That this liberty [of the press] is often carried to excess; that it has sometimes degenerated into licentiousness, is seen and lamented, but the remedy has not yet been discovered. Perhaps it is an evil inseparable from the good with which it is allied; perhaps it is a shoot which cannot be stripped from the stalk without wounding vitally the plant from which it is torn. However desirable those measures might be which might correct without enslaving the press, they have never yet been devised in America.”

Sometimes Might America Evil Liberty Presses Plant Excess Remedy Torn Desirable Inseparable Stalking

Book:The Writings of James Madison: 1790-1802

Source: The Writings of James Madison: 1790-1802

“The true liberty of the press is amply secured by permitting every man to publish his opinion; but it is due to the peace and dignity of society, to inquire into the motives of such publications, and to distinguish between those which are meant for use and reformation, and with an eye solely to the public good, and those which are intended merely to delude and defame. To the latter description, it is impossible that any good government should afford protection and impunity.”

Men Should Use Government Eye Liberty Opinion Impossible Dignity Presses Protection Dues Every Man Motive Latter Description Publish Reformation Publication Secured Impunity Public Good

Author:Thomas McKean

“One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle.”

Men House Liberty Essentials Property Revolutionary Branches Castles American Revolution

Author:James Otis