Alexis de Tocqueville

I am convinced that the greatest danger for a democratic nation is not anarchy, but indifference.

The Americans are a people who are always looking for a new way to do things, and they are very good at finding it.

I have often thought that the most difficult thing for a man to do is to know himself.

The Americans are a people who are always talking about equality, but they are also a people who are very jealous of each other.

I am convinced that the greatest evil in the world is not war, but revolution.

The Americans are a people who are always seeking happiness, but they are also a people who are never satisfied.

I have always believed that the most important thing for a nation is to have a strong government, even if it is not a free one.

The Americans are a people who are always talking about progress, but they are also a people who are always looking back.

I have often seen that men are more afraid of death than of slavery.

In America, conspiracies are unknown; in France, they are the daily news.

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.

In the United States, the majority raises formidable barriers around thought.

The French want equality in liberty, and if they can't have that, they'll take equality in slavery.

Americans are so enamored of equality they'd rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

I have encountered passionate materialists whose closing of the eyes to faith was as fanatical as religious zeal.

To remain silent is the most useful service a mediocre speaker can render to the public good.

The Negroes who inhabit the United States, are in some measure strangers to the country which gave them birth; they are the children of slavery, and not of society. Therefore, they have no place amongst the European population, who have been born under the blessings of liberty and equality.

I do not think that the white and black races will ever live in any country upon an equal footing. But I believe that they will remain in a state of hostility, unless they are separated.

Slavery, which is so cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master, and democracy, which is so favorable to the freedom of all citizens, is destructive of the independence of the individual.

The most formidable of all the ills that threaten the future of the Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its territory.