“In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.”
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Author detail
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville, was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist and historian. He is best known for his works *Democracy in America* (appearing in two volumes, 1835 and 1840) and *The Old Regime and the Revolution* (1856). In both, he analysed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's travels in the United States and is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. Tocqueville was active in French politics, first under the July Monarchy (1830–1848) and then during the Second Republic (1849–1851) which succeeded the February 1848 Revolution. He retired from political life after Louis Napoléon Bonaparte's 2 December 1851 coup and thereafter began work on *The Old Regime and the Revolution*. Tocqueville argued the importance of the French Revolution was to continue the process of modernizing and centralizing the French state which had begun under King Louis XIV. The failure of the Revolution came from the inexperience of the deputies who were too wedded to abstract Enlightenment ideals. Tocqueville was a classical liberal who advocated parliamentary government and was skeptical of the extremes of democracy. During his time in parliament, he sat on the centre-left, but the complex and restless nature of his liberalism has led to contrasting interpretations and admirers across the political spectrum. Regarding his political position, Tocqueville wrote "the word 'left' is... the word I wanted to attach to my name so that it would remain attached to it forever." **Source**: [Alexis de Tocqueville](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville) on Wikipedia.
Quotes
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“In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.”
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“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”
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“There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.”
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“The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.”
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“No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and though different men may sometimes find it...”
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“The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.”
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“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”
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“No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.”
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“The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”
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“Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.”
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“It is the dissimilarities and inequalities among men which give rise to the notion of honor; as such differences become less, it grows feeble; and when they disappear, it will vanish too.”
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“I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”
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“Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.”
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“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”
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“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”
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“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
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“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revoluti...”
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“In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their o...”
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“What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not...”
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“In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.”
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