“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”
“Democracy extends the sphere of individual freedom, socialism restricts it.”
“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”
“Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”
“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”
“The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”
“In democracies, nothing is greater or more permanent than the fact of the majority.”
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
“The most dangerous time for a bad government is usually when it begins to reform.”
“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”
“The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.”
“As one digs deeper into the national character of Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?”
“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult—to begin a war and to end it.”
“The love of wealth is at least as steady as the love of freedom in America.”
“In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.”
“A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.”
“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the character of its people.”
“There is hardly any political question in the United States that sooner or later does not turn into a judicial one.”
“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.”
“It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than a complex truth.”
“In a democracy, each citizen is habitually busy with the contemplation of a very petty object, which is himself.”
“There are many men of principle in both parties, but there is no party of principle.”
“Nothing is harder than freedom’s apprenticeship.”
“The American republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
“Despotism can do without faith, but freedom cannot.”
“The free worker is less willing than others to endure the authority of his employer.”
“It is easier for a nation to create a great empire than to endure the greatness of others.”
“Americans are fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle of self-interest.”
“The individual is the best judge of his own interest.”
“Democracy is at once a state of society, a type of constitution, and a frame of mind.”
“Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and yet truth is the only thing by which men live.”
“One does not see the slaves in a democracy, but one can hear them constantly.”
“Power sees its way more clearly in the light of its own torch.”
“The greatness of the American republic lies in its acceptance of plurality.”
“Liberty regards religion as its companion in all its battles and triumphs.”
“I know of no other country where love of money has such a grip on men’s hearts.”
“The strength of a democracy lies in the power of public opinion.”
“In democratic ages, men rarely hate each other, but they avoid each other.”
“Democracy seeks equality in freedom; socialism seeks equality in constraint and servitude.”
“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which make use of our defects.”
“Every central power, even a benevolent one, becomes bureaucratic in the end.”
“The French want no one to be their superior; the English want inferiors.”
“There is scarcely any political passion in America, except the passion for money.”
“Equality breeds mediocrity.”
“In a democracy, the people who own the country ought to govern it.”
“Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power, nor by its abuse, but by their passion for it.”
“Society will develop a new type of servitude which will cover the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules.”
“Nothing seems at first sight less important to men than the doctrine of equality; and yet, this very doctrine has, in a manner, remade the world.”
“A nation that asks nothing of government but the maintenance of order is already a slave at heart.”
“In a democracy, people get the government they deserve.”
“No democratic people ever lived in tranquility; nor have any attained that level of political equilibrium.”
“The true friend of liberty cannot be both an advocate of freedom and a supporter of democracy.”
“The science of despotism is to become invisible.”
“The very impossibility of forming a coalition should be, and is, the cause of despotism.”
“A majority taken collectively becomes despotic.”
“In democratic societies, a nation cannot be free without respecting property.”
“When the principle of equality penetrates human society, it goes on to inspire the spirit of commerce.”
“In a democracy, the people are both the sovereign and the subjects.”
“When liberty begins to fade, there is nothing more dangerous to liberty than freedom itself.”
“Despotism is a tyrant that does not need a throne.”