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 form a class. -Alexis de Tocqueville

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As one digs deeper into the national character of the 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? - Alexis de Tocqueville

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If men are to remain civilized, or to become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in the same ratio in which the equality of conditions is increased. -- Alexis de Tocqueville

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The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say 'Gentlemen' to the person with whom he is conversing. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens. -Alexis de Tocqueville

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In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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