“He was as great as a man can be without morality.”
Great
“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.”
GreatAll Quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville
“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?”
Money“Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
Government“I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”
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.”
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.”
Business“In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.”
Politics“A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.”
Government“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
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.”
Great“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.”
War“The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.”
Power“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”
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.”
Society“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”
History“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.”
Freedom