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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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
Begins
Dangerous
Moment
Moments
Government
Investing
Reform
More quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville
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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[T]he main evil of the present democratic institutions of the united states does not raise, as is often asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the inadequate securities which one finds there against tyranny.
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The genius of democracies is seen not only in the great number of new words introduced but even more in the new ideas they express.
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It is far more important to resist apathy than anarchy or despotism, for apathy can give rise, almost indifferently, to either one.
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All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
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When none but the wealthy had watches, they were almost all very good ones few are now made which are worth much, but everybody has one in his pocket.
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The last thing abandoned by a party is its phraseology, because among political parties, as elsewhere, the vulgar make the language, and the vulgar abandon more easily the ideas that have been instilled into it than the words that it has learnt.
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The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all.
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There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.
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The progress of democracy seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history.
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There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult - to begin a war and to end it.
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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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I cannot believe that a republic could subsist if the influence of the lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the people.
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In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
Alexis de Tocqueville
How could a society escape destruction if, when political ties are relaxed, moral ties are not tightened, and what can be done with a people master of itself if it not subject to God?
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In the United States, except for slaves, servants and the destitute fed by townships, everyone has the vote and this is an indirect contributor to law-making. Anyone wishing to attack the law is thus reduced to adopting one of two obvious courses: they must either change the nation's opinion or trample its wishes under foot.
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Those who prize freedom only for the material benefits it offers have never kept it for long.
Alexis de Tocqueville
The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They, indeed, are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them.
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The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.
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Democracy does not create strong ties between people. But it does make living together easier.
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