124 quotes
Laws are always unstable unless they are founded on the manners of a nation; and manners are the only durable and resisting power in a people.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness of their fortunes, but the vehemence of the exertions they daily make to improve them.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
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.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
In democratic ages men rarely sacrifice themselves for another, but they show a general compassion for all the human race.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
Nothing tends to materialize man and to deprive his work of the faintest trace of mind more than the extreme division of labor.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
Nothing is more customary in man than to recognize superior wisdom in the person of his oppressor.
As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult—to begin a war and to end it.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
In order to enjoy the inestimable benefits that the liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils it creates.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
General ideas are no proof of the strength, but rather of the insufficiency of the human intellect.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.
No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840)
He who seeks freedom for anything but freedom's self is made to be a slave.
The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856)
"The will of the nation" is one of those expressions which have been most profusely abused by the wily and the despotic of every age.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)