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Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

Total quotes: 7
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II(Bantam Classics)
Tagged: Liberty, Morality, Faith
“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II(Bantam Classics)
Tagged: Freedom
“Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II(Bantam Classics)
Tagged: Equality, Slavery, Freedom, Americans
“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, Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II(Bantam Classics)
Tagged: United States, Politicians
“The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II(Bantam Classics)
Tagged: Society, America, American Democracy, Aristocracy
“It is this idea of destruction, with the accompanying thought of near and inevitable change, that gives to the solitudes of America their peculiar character, and their touching loveliness. You look at them with mournful pleasure. You feel that you must not delay admiring them. The impression of wild and natural greatness so soon to expire, mingles with the lofty thoughts to which the progress of civilization gives rise— you are proud of being a man; and yet you reflect, almost with remorse, on the dominion which Providence allots to you over nature. You are distracted by conflicting ideas and feelings. But every impression received is sublime, and leaves a deep trace.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Memoir- letters and remains of Alexis de Tocqueville
Tagged: Creative Destruction, Rural Vs. Urban, Control Over Nature, Genesis 1:28
“Every American is eaten up with longing to rise, but hardly any of them seem to entertain very great hopes or aim very high. All are constantly bent on gaining property, reputation and power, but few conceive of such thing on a grand scale...They are much more in love with success than with glory.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, Why There Are so Many Men of Ambition in the United States but so Few Lofty Ambitions
Tagged: Life, glory, Success, Power
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