Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

We wish, in a word, equality - equality in fact as a corollary, or rather, as primordial condition of liberty. From each according to his faculties, to each according to his needs; that is what we wish sincerely and energetically.

Turtle makes all men equal.

A state of equality is perhaps less elevated, but it is more just; and its justice constitutes its greatness and beauty.

We understand the concept of equality, that we all want to be equal. But I think this is absolutely not true. I don't think anybody really wants to be equal. Everybody wants to be more equal.

Freedom and opportunity are precious gifts and the purpose of our politics is to expand them, for all our people.

What is the American dream? The American dream is one big tent. One big tent. And on that big tent you have four basic promises: equal protection under the law, equal opportunity, equal access, and fair share.

I hope that liberty and equality and opportunity lie within your heart because the hopes of millions of Americans depend on it.

Here everyone is his own master. Civil liberty places all inhabitants on an equal footing. The humble cannot be oppressed by the mighty, nor the poor by the rich.

Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.

Today, we talk a lot about equality, but I think what most people mean by it is sameness - that everybody is the same - and they are afraid if they are not the same, they are not equal.

There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality which excites men to wish all to be powerful and honored. This passion tends to elevate the humble to the rank of the great; but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom.

The vulgar charge that the tendency of democracies is to leveling, meaning to drag all down to the level of the lowest, is singularly untrue; its real tendency being to elevate the depressed to a condition not unworthy of their manhood.

Equality ... like freedom, exists only where you are now. Only as an egg in the womb are we all equal.

I tasted the bread and wine of equality.

The thirst for equality can express itself either as a desire to draw everyone down to one's level, or to raise oneself and everyone else up.

There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal.

In the principle of equality I very clearly discern two tendencies; one leading the mind of every man to untried thoughts, the other prohibiting him from thinking at all.

Equality today means ‘sameness’, rather than ‘oneness’.

I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.

Middle America believes in fair play, an equal opportunity to succeed or to fail.

I stand for simple justice, equal opportunity and human rights. The indispensable elements in a democratic society - and well worth fighting for.

Freedom and Justice are twin sisters.

What are the American ideals? They are the development of the individual for his own and the common good; the development of the individual through liberty; and the attainment of the common good through democracy and social justice.

A society that admits misery, a humanity that admits war, seem to me an inferior society and a debased humanity; it is a higher society and a more elevated humanity at which I am aiming - a society without kings, a humanity without barriers.

Canada is the homeland of equality, justice and tolerance.