Home / Quotes / Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

“The people reign over the American political world as God rules over the universe. It is the cause and the end of all things; everything rises out of it and is absorbed back into it.”

Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

Book:Democracy in America

Work

Democracy in America

Published in the 19th century, this seminal work offers a detailed examination of the American political system, its history, and its societal implications. The author delves into the functioning of democracy, the role of the government, and the cultural fabric of the nation. more

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

You May Also Like

“Among these widely differing families of men, the first that attracts attention, the superior in intelligence, in power, and in enjoyment, is the white, or European, the MAN pre-eminently so called, below him appear the Negro and the Indian.”

Men Firsts White Attention He Man Superiors Indian Enjoyment

Book:Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“The most formidable of all the ills that threaten the future of the Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its territory; and in contemplating the cause of the present embarrassments, or the future dangers of the United States, the observer is invariably led to this as a primary fact.”

States Facts Causes Black United United States Danger Unions Population Arise Primaries Territory Contemplating Observers Embarrassment Formidable

Book:Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the exertions they daily make to improve them.”

Men Democracy He Man Ambition Fortune Lofty Exertion Vehemence

Book:Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II

Source: Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II

“Countries, therefore, when lawmaking falls exclusively to the lot of the poor cannot hope for much economy in public expenditure; expenses will always be considerable, either because taxes cannot touch those who vote for them or because they are assessed in a way to prevent that.”

Way Country Fall Poor Economy Taxes Vote Expenses Expenditures

Book:Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“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.”

Source: Democracy in America

“In America, conscription is unknown; men are enlisted for payment. Compulsory recruitment is so alien to the ideas and so foreign to the customs of the people of the United States that I doubt whether they would ever dare to introduce it into their law.”

People Men Ideas States America Law United United States Doubt Dare Aliens Customs Introducing Payment Compulsory Recruitment Enlisted Conscription

Author:Alexis de Tocqueville

“The First thing that strikes a traveler in the United States is the innumerable multitude of those who seek to emerge from their original condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans are devoid of a yearning desire to rise, but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great magnitude or to pursue very lofty aims. All are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation.”

“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.”

Ifs Pleasure Common Opinion Crime Ignorance Habit Democratic Vices Scales Fewer Display Brilliance Outrageous Wellbeing Vigorous Aristocracy Democratic Society Wretchedness

Author:Alexis de Tocqueville

“Useful undertakings which require sustained attention and vigorous precision in order to succeed often end up by being abandoned, for, in America, as elsewhere, the people move forward by sudden impulses and short-lived efforts.”

People Ends America Moving Order Effort Attention Succeed Moving Forward Impulse Abandoned Elsewhere Vigorous Precision Undertakings Short Lived Order To Succeed

Author:Alexis de Tocqueville

“If we desire to do what will please God, and what will help men, we presently find ourselves taken out of our narrow habits of thought and action; we find new elements of our nature called into activity; we are no longer running along a narrow track of selfish habit.”

Ifs Men Helping Running Action Desire Taken Habit Please Activity Elements Track Selfish Selfishness Help Me Thoughts And Actions

Book:Self-culture, lectures

Source: Self-culture, lectures