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Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville

“To get the inestimable good that freedom of the press assures one must know how to submit to the inevitable evil it gives rise to.”

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

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“I avow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to things whose nature is unqualifiedly good. I love it out of consideration for the evils it prevents much more than for the good it does.”

Doe Evil Presses Consideration Accord Freedom Of The Press Instantaneous

Book:Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“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.”

Mean States Political United Numbers United States Effects Presses Newspapers Sole Political Science Axioms

Author:Alexis de Tocqueville

“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