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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.

Alexis de Tocqueville

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Alexis de Tocqueville
Age: 53 †
Born: 1805
Born: July 29
Died: 1859
Died: April 16
Historian
Jurist
Philosopher
Politician
Sociologist
Writer
Paris
France
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville
Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clerel de Tocqueville
Independence
Freedom
America
Littles
Little
Country
Conform
Real
Conformity
Mind
Discussion

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The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal, but it depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to servitude or freedom, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or wretchedness.
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The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things...among democratic nations they are two unequal things.
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Comfort becomes a goal when distinctions of rank are abolished and privileges destroyed.
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When an American asks for the cooperation of his fellow citizens, it is seldom refused and I have often seen it afforded spontaneously and with great good will.
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There is hardly a congressman prepared to go home until he has at least one speech printed and sent to his constituents, and he won't let anybody interrupt his harangue until he has made all his useful suggestions about the 24 states of the Union, and especially the district he represents.
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Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort.
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Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science they bring it within the people's reach.
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In democratic countries, however opulent a man is supposed to be, he is almost always discontented with his fortune, because he finds that he is less rich than his father was, and he fears that his sons will be less rich than himself.
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The position of the Americans is quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one.
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We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.
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The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.
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If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.
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Despotism can do without faith but freedom cannot.
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In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end.
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So many of my thoughts and feelings are shared by the English that England has turned into a second native land of the mind for me.
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The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology.
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He who seeks freedom for anything but freedom's self is made to be a slave.
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In democratic centuries, on the contrary, when the duties of each individual toward the species are much clearer, devotion toward one man becomes rarer: the bond of human affections is extended and loosened.
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An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say 'Gentlemen' to the person with whom he is conversing.
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Those who prize freedom only for the material benefits it offers have never kept it for long.
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