Top 44 Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

About Alexis de Tocqueville

These are some quotes by French author Alexis de Tocqueville Historian, who lived between July 29, 1805 and April 16, 1859.

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.

Alexis de Tocqueville

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.

There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.

Alexis de Tocqueville

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.

Alexis de Tocqueville

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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.

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

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.

Alexis de Tocqueville

No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and though different men may sometimes find it their interest to combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their pleasure.

Alexis de Tocqueville

It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.

Alexis de Tocqueville

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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