"In that remarkable work [Democracy in America], the excellences of democracy were pointed out in a more conclusive, because a more specific manner than I had ever known them to be, even by the most enthusiastic democrats; while the specific dangers which beset democracy, considered as the government of the numerical majority, were brought into equally strong light, and subjected to a masterly analysis, not as reasons for resisting what the author considered as an inevitable result of human progress, but as indications of the weak points of popular government, the defences by which it needs to be guarded, and the correctives which must be added to it in order that while full play is given to its beneficial tendencies, those which are of a different nature may be neutralized or mitigated."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from FrancePhilosophers from FranceHistorians from FranceCultural criticsSociologists from France
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography (1873), p. 191
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Alexis de Tocqueville
1805 – 1859
158 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Alexis de Tocqueville →
Related Quotes
"When the ranks of society are unequal, and men unlike one another in condition, there are some individuals wielding t…"
"Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves."
"Step back in time; look closely at the child in the very arms of his mother; see the external world reflected for the…"
"Born under another sky, placed in the middle of an always-moving scene, himself driven by the irresistible torrent wh…"
"The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes abo…"
"As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everythi…"
"Men sometimes submit to shame, to tyranny, to conquest, but they never long suffer anarchy. There is no people so bar…"
"The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing."
"In the midst of this American society, so well policed, so sententious, so charitable, a cold selfishness and complet…"
"The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That i…"