Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

Having for centuries had no sense of self esteem outside the state, we found ourselves wanting our old rulers back, the rulers who provided a sense of order, inspired patriotic fervor and the belief that we were great nation. We yearned for monumental--if repressive--leaders like Ivan the Terrible or Stalin. Yes they killed and imprisoned but how great were our victories and parades. So what if Stalin ruled by fear? That was simply a fear of one’s life. However terrifying, it was not as existentially threatening as the fear of freedom, of individual choice, with no one but oneself to blame if democracy turned into disarray and capitalism into corruption.

There must be in all [societies and governments] a supreme, irresistable, absolute, uncontrolled authority.

Which is better, to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or by three thousand tyrants not a mile away?

... timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.

A government is said to preserve order if it succeeds in getting itself obeyed. But there are different degrees of obedience, and it is not every degree that is commendable. Only an unmitigated despotism demands that the individual citizen shall obey unconditionally every mandate of persons in authority.

Democracy has two extremes to avoid: the spirit of inequality, which leads to an aristocracy, or to the government of a single individual; and the spirit of extreme equality, which conducts it to despotism, as the despotism of a single individual finishes it by conquest.

Constitutional Government in Naples is hopeless. What would suit us, would be an enlightened despotism—such a Government as Murat's might have ripened into had he stayed. We owe him nearly all the progress that we have made during the last three or four centuries. He gave us open legal procedure, the abolition of privileges, the diminution of ecclesiastical property, and the few roads which we possess. Now all is going backwards

The tensions between order and liberty, between opportunity and social justice will always be there, but that’s freedom.

Unmanacle the slave… unsceptre the despot… erect an altar on the Inquisition’s grace, to raise a people to the altitude of freedom.

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and ‘I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for which I am prepared to die for.

Henceforth, there is to be one sole object: The fall of Despotism and the triumph of Holy Equality.

Equality and freedom are not luxuries to lightly cast aside. Without them, order cannot long endure before approaching depths beyond imagining.

Love is love. It doesn't matter how or who you love. I don't believe the messiah would condemn gay men and women.

Gandhi is the other person. I believe Gandhi is the only person who knew about real democracy — not democracy as the right to go and buy what you want, but democracy as the responsibility to be accountable to everyone around you. Democracy begins with freedom from hunger, freedom from unemployment, freedom from fear, and freedom from hatred. To me, those are the real freedoms on the basis of which good human societies are based.

I believe that freedom is a gift from an Almighty to every man, woman, and child; that is a principle that was important to me during my presidency and I think it's an important principle.

Two visions of the world remain locked in dispute. The first believes all men are created equal by a loving God who has blessed us with freedom. The second vision believes that religion is opium for the masses. It believes that eternal principles like truth, liberty, and democracy have no meaning beyond the whim of the state. And [Vladimir] Lenin spoke for them.

I think if you're a liberal, you believe that we all are, at least to some extent, our brothers' keepers, you really believe that we have a sumptuary responsibility to make sure that life is decent for everybody in America, that you believe that society out to be broadly shared, and you believe that you can't have a real democracy unless you have a little bit, at least, of economic democracy.

At this moment in history, we are called to act as if we truly believe that liberty and justice for all is a desirable thing.

Old or young, healthy as a horse or a person with a disability that hasn't kept you down, man or woman, Native American, native born, immigrant, straight or gay - whatever; the test ought to be I believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. I believe in religious liberty. I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in working hard and playing by the rules. I'm showing up for work tomorrow. I'm building that bridge to the 21st century. That ought to be the test.

A man's admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.

Many Muslims in Saudi Arabia believe that the core values of Islam, namely acknowledgement of God's sovereignty and basic human equality before God, are themselves compatible with liberty, equality and free political choice.

To bring about government by oligarchy, masquerading as democracy, it is fundamentally essential that practically all authority and control be centralized in our Federal government. . . The individual sovereignty of our states must first be destroyed.

Women cannot serve two masters at once who are urgently beaming antithetical orders.... Either we believe in patriarchy the rule of men over women - or we believe in equality.

We Democrats believe in an America where no matter who you are or where you come from, you should have an equal shot at success.

I believe in Democracy because it releases the energies of every human being.