It is almost never when a state of things is the most detestable that it is smashed, but when, beginning to improve, it permits men to breathe, to reflect, to communicate their thoughts with each other, and to gauge by what they already have the extent of their rights and their grievances. The weight, although less heavy, seems then all the more unbearable. ✨ Alexis de Tocqueville, Roger Boesche, James Toupin (1986). Selected Letters on Politics and Society, p.296, Univ of California Press
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- I see no clear reason why the doctrine of self-interest properly understood should turn men away from religious beliefs. ✨ Alexis de Tocqueville (2004). Tocqueville: Democracy in America, p.615, Libr … ▶
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- Because Roman civilization perished through barbarian invasions, we are perhaps too much inclined to think that that is the only way a civilization can die. If the lights that guide us ever go out, t … ▶
- By obliging men to turn their attention to other affairs than their own, it rubs off that private selfishness which is the rust of society. ✨ Alexis de Tocqueville (1863). Democracy in America, p.364
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