Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

Not in vain oaths should prudent men believe,
But put their trust in actions.

Though Fortune now be smiling, it behoves
To look ahead, nor e'er to trust in Fortune.

Of all thy blessings reckon wealth the least,
For 'tis the least secure of our possessions.

Once thou art wed, no longer canst thou be
Lord of thyself.

Discovery attends on every quest,
Except for renegades who shirk the toil.
Now certain men have pushed discovery
Into the sphere of heaven. Some part they know,—
How planets rise and set and wheel about,
And of the sun’s eclipse. If men have probed
Worlds far remote, can problems of this earth,
This common home to which we’re born, defy them?

A decline of public morals in the United States will probably be marked by the abuse of the power of impeachment as a means of crushing political adversaries or ejecting them from office.

In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.

In the end, the state of the Union comes down to the character of the people. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there. In the fertile fields and boundless prairies, and it was not there. In her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits, aflame with righteousness, did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

The regime which is destroyed by a revolution is almost always an improvement on its immediate predecessor, and experience teaches that the most critical moment for bad governments is the one which witnesses their first steps toward reform.

Original text: Qui cherche dans la liberté autre chose qu'elle-même est fait pour servir.

He who seeks freedom for anything but freedom's self is made to be a slave.

Original text: La France est la plus brillante et la plus dangereuse des nations de l'Europe, et la mieux faite pour y devenir tour à tour un objet d'admiration, de haine, de pitié, de terreur, mais jamais d'indifférence.

The French are … the most brilliant and the most dangerous nation of Europe, and the one that is surest to inspire admiration, hatred, terror, or pity, but never indifference.

Original text: On voit que l'histoire est une galerie de tableaux où il y a peu d'originaux et beaucoup de copies.