The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind. Alexis de Tocqueville More Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville More Quotes From Alexis de Tocqueville 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. Alexis de Tocqueville aristocracy vices ignorance The French constitute the most brilliant and the most dangerous nation in Europe and the best qualified in turn to become an object of admiration, hatred, pity or terror but never indifference. Alexis de Tocqueville brilliant hatred europe The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people. Alexis de Tocqueville presses power people The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all. Alexis de Tocqueville faces feels men The main business of religions is to purify, control, and restrain that excessive and exclusive taste for well-being which men acquire in times of equality. Alexis de Tocqueville equality business men Whatever may be the general endeavor of a community to render its members equal and alike, the personal pride of individuals will always seek to rise above the line, and to form somewhere an inequality to their own advantage. Alexis de Tocqueville lines community pride 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. Alexis de Tocqueville inevitable evil giving You need not value it yourself if you do not wish to; but you ought to allow it to us who do value it. Alexis de Tocqueville atheism wish needs Among the laws controlling human societies there is one more precise and clearer, it seems to me, than all the others. If men are to remain civilized or to become civilized, the art of association must develop and improve among them at the same speed as equality of conditions spreads. Alexis de Tocqueville law men art In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned. Alexis de Tocqueville love country america The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization. Alexis de Tocqueville ignorance simple civilization The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. Alexis de Tocqueville greatness lying america Furthermore, when citizens are all almost equal, it becomes difficult for them to defend their independence against the aggressions of power. Alexis de Tocqueville independence difficult citizens European Christianity has allowed itself to be intimately united with the powers of this world. Now that these powers are falling, it is as if it were buried under their ruins. Alexis de Tocqueville church world fall [R]eligion cannot share the material strength of the rulers without being burdened with some of the animosity roused against them. Alexis de Tocqueville states church share I considered mores to be one of the great general causes responsible for the maintenance of a democratic republic . . . the term "mores" . . . meaning . . . habits of the heart. Alexis de Tocqueville republic maintenance heart Among a democratic people, where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living, or is born of parents who have worked. The notion of labor is therefore presented to the mind, on every side, as the necessary, natural, and honest condition. Alexis de Tocqueville work men people I see no clear reason why the doctrine of self-interest properly understood should turn men away from religious beliefs. Alexis de Tocqueville religious self men The foremost or indeed sole condition required in order to succeed in centralizing the supreme power in a democratic community is to love equality or to get men to believe you love it. Thus, the science of despotism, which was once so complex, has been simplified and reduced, as it were, to a single principle. Alexis de Tocqueville men order believe A great democratic revolution is taking place in our midst. Alexis de Tocqueville midst democratic revolution
