What Alexis de Tocqueville thinks about democracy
French political philosopher and historian (1805 to 1859); author of Democracy in America.
Alexis de Tocqueville did not write this page.
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3 dated positions, c. 1835 to c. 1840, in their own words. Our reading of what Alexis de Tocqueville has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsDemocracy loosens social ties, but it draws the ties of nature more tight; it brings kindred more closely together, whilst it places the various members of the community more widely apart.
↗Democracy in America, Volume 2 (1840; Henry Reeve translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsIt cannot be denied that democratic institutions have a very strong tendency to promote the feeling of envy in the human heart; not so much because they afford to every one the means of rising to the level of any of his fellow-citizens, as because those means perpetually disappoint the persons who employ them. Democratic institutions awaken and foster a passion for equality which they can never entirely satisfy.
↗Democracy in America, Volume 1 (1835; Henry Reeve translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingThe legal profession is the only aristocratic element that blends peacefully with democracy
Their wordsThe profession of the law is the only aristocratic element which can be amalgamated without violence with the natural elements of democracy, and which can be advantageously and permanently combined with them.
↗Democracy in America, Volume 1 (1835; Henry Reeve translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book