Alexis de Tocqueville
  • 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.

  • The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.

  • The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.

  • Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners.

  • All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.