Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville

29 quotes

Known primarily as a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian, Alexis de Tocqueville also happens to be one of the most quotable figures in our collection. Known for his works Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856), their words carry the weight of lived experience. 37 of Alexis de Tocqueville's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of Men, War, Society, Great, and Freedom. A line that stays with you: "The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people."

“What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Great

All Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

“He was as great as a man can be without morality.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Great

“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

Money

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

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Best

“Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Society

“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

Business

“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

Religion

“In other words, 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

Government

“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

Freedom

“What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Great

“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Business

“In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Politics

“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

Government

“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Faith

“The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Great

“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

War

“The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Power

“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Future

“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

Society

“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

History

“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.”

— Alexis de Tocqueville

Freedom