Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question. Alexis de Tocqueville More Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville More Quotes From Alexis de Tocqueville There is no country in the world in which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public morality. Alexis de Tocqueville common-senselawcountry Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom. Alexis de Tocqueville being-freeuseart I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all. Alexis de Tocqueville innovationmenmoving In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. Alexis de Tocqueville majorityunited-statespolitical I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run. Alexis de Tocqueville officerunningmen Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects. Alexis de Tocqueville dangerousviolencepeople In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships. Alexis de Tocqueville politicshatredfriendship Even despots accept the excellence of liberty. The simple truth is that they wish to keep it for themselves and promote the idea that no one else is at all worthy of it. Thus, our opinion Alexis de Tocqueville simplemencountry 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. Alexis de Tocqueville considerationevildoe 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. Alexis de Tocqueville charactermenhands I have only one passion, the love of liberty and human dignity. Alexis de Tocqueville dignitypassionliberty There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America. Alexis de Tocqueville religiouschristiancountry America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing. Alexis de Tocqueville freedomcountryamerica 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? Alexis de Tocqueville eyesleepthinking As for me, I am deeply a democrat; this is why I am in no way a socialist. Democracy and socialism cannot go together. You can't have it both ways. Socialism is a new form of slavery. Alexis de Tocqueville politicaltogetherphilosophy One of the happiest consequences of the absence of government...is the development of individual strength that inevitably follows. Alexis de Tocqueville individual-strengthgovernmentdevelopment everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure Alexis de Tocqueville energyenoughevil As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? Alexis de Tocqueville moneyanswerscharacter 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. Alexis de Tocqueville tiredwatchesworld The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave. Alexis de Tocqueville libertarianlibertymen
