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In America one of the first things done in a new State is to make the post go there in the forests of Michigan there is no cabin so isolated, no valley so wild, but that letters and newspapers arrive at least once a week.

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
States
Forests
Cabins
Firsts
Newspapers
Michigan
First
Wild
Valley
Done
Letters
Arrive
Make
Week
Valleys
Things
Least
Isolated
State
Post
America
Posts
Cabin

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There is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.
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A state of equality is perhaps less elevated, but it is more just and its justice constitutes its greatness and beauty.
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Socialism is a new form of slavery.
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The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their Nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so.
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The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle.
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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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It is an axiom of political science in the United States that the sole means of neutralizing the effects of newspapers is to multiply their number.
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There is no philosopher in the world so great but he believes a million things on the faith of other people and accepts a great many more truths than he demonstrates.
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America is a country where they have freedom of speech but everyone says the same thing.
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The most durable monument of human labor is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
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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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The legislator is like the navigator of a ship on the high seas. He can steer the vessel on which he sails, but he cannot alter its construction, raise the wind, or stop the waves from swelling beneath his feet.
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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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By obliging men to turn their attention to other affairs than their own, it rubs off that private selfishness which is the rust of society.
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I avow that I do not hold that complete and instantaneous love for the freedom of the press that one accords to things whose nature is unqualifiedly good. I love it out of consideration for the evils it prevents much more than for the good it does.
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In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect, this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect, from supporting him but if he attacks all the sects together, every one abandons him and he remains alone.
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As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.
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The French under the old monarchy held it for a maxim that the king could do no wrong . The Americans entertain the same opinion with respect to the majority.... If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that event may be attributed to the omnipotence of the majority.
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The last thing a political party gives up is its vocabulary.
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I am far from denying that newspapers in democratic countries lead citizens to do very ill-considered things in common but without newspapers there would be hardly any common action at all. So they mend many more ills than they cause.
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