Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

In Sacramento you simply had to think about what the law ought to be and leave it to someone else to implement. In San Francisco, you hear about it the next day.

To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.

The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

A town meeting is a legislature of citizens, for citizens, and by citizens. The fact that each citizen of the town is also a legislator separates the New England town meeting from all other forms of democracy.

When the mayor's concerned about something, eveybody's concerned about it.

We have a great nation to help govern. We who are citizens of this great republic are favored children, yet we are all the time complaining; but that is one of the inalienable privileges of an American to complain about his neighbor and government-always crying for a change. But, with all of its faults, this is the best government for man on the face of the earth

Let us give our Republic not the best possible laws but the best which they will bear.

Growing up, when we would get dragged to these events, I didn't want to be there. Over time, as we got older, I developed a real appreciation of the importance of being involved in the democratic process.

You can't be a full participant in our democracy if you don't know our history.

The modern state no longer has anything but rights; it does not recognize duties any more.

As a citizen of a community, if you never vote or engage, don't be surprised when the outcome doesn't serve your interests; you've never done anything to push things in the right direction.

Liberty cannot be preserved, if the manners of the people are corrupted.

Government is not a substitute for people, but simply the instrument through which they act. And if the individual fails to do his duty as a citizen, government becomes a very deadly instrument indeed.

[There is no] right of Congress ... to force a good thing upon a people who are unwilling to receive it. The great principle is the right of every community to judge and decide for itself whether a thing is right or wrong, whether it would be good or evil to adopt it.... Whenever you put a limitation upon the right of any people to decide what laws they want, you have destroyed the fundamental principle of self-government.

Voting is the first duty of democracy.

There is a Holiness about the Constitution; and we would ... wither every hand extended to treat it rudely. The peace and prosperity of this Republic, the world's last best hope, must not be haphazarded, much less destroyed, that certain men may rule

With a perfect system of schools and colleges for the people, alone, can we rely for the virtuous exercise of the elective franchise, for the steady discipline of civil society and for the permanent power of order and religion over anarchy.

This commonwealth does upon the most deliberate reconsideration declare, that the said alien and sedition laws, are in their opinion, palpable violations of the said constitution

The health of our republic depends on shared principles like the First Amendment, but it is also built on the Teddy Roosevelt-like vigor of its citizens and local self-reliance.

I have my own vision to lead the Seoul City, but whether or not I can display it totally depends on the citizens.

Americans need to be engaged and invested in the legislative process that affects their daily lives, otherwise we are just democracy in name only.

We want councillors and MPs to be more closely involved in housing issues because this will help to strengthen local democracy and accountability.

Good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great.

...When we quietly go about our business as our rights are plundered, when we yield to passivity and switch on the wii and hand over our power, we are not acting like true Americans. Indeed, at those moments we are giving up our citizenship.

None but a people advanced to a high state of moral and intellectual excellence are capable in a civilized condition of forming and maintaining free governments, and among those who are so far advanced, very few indeed have had the good fortune to form constitutions capable of endurance.