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Égalité is an expression of envy. It means, in the real heart of every Republican, " No one shall be better off than I am;" and while this is preferred to good government, good government is impossible.

— Alexis de Tocqueville

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Notes from Wikiquote

Conversation with Nassau William Senior, 22 May 1850 Nassau, p. 94

Variants

Equality is a slogan based on envy. It signifies in the heart of every republican: "Nobody is going to occupy a place higher than I."

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Jealousy

More quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville

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.

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

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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)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Alexis de Tocqueville (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.