"The public, therefore, among a democratic people, has a singular power, which aristocratic nations cannot conceive; for it does not persuade others to its beliefs, but it imposes them and makes them permeate the thinking of everyone by a sort of enormous pressure of the mind of all upon the individual intelligence. In the United States the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. Everybody there adopts great numbers of theories, on philosophy, morals, and politics, without inquiry, upon public trust; and if we examine it very closely, it will be perceived that religion itself holds sway there much less as a doctrine of revelation than as a commonly received opinion."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume 2, Book 1, Chapter 2, J. Spencer, trans.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Democracy
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Democracy
306 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Democracy →
Related Quotes
"Kansanvalta on puhunut, pulinat pois! (Minister Johannes Virolainen, Suomenmaa 1980)"
"I cannot be brought to believe that this country will suffer if the Court refuses further to aggrandize the president…"
"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists."
"The only way to practice democracy, is to practice democracy."
"... our democracy is merely nominal. We have a kakistocracy of plutocrat and proletariat for agents and beneficiaries…"
"Democracy is a system where people are counted but not weighed."
"The basic ideals and concepts of rationalist metaphysics were rooted in the concept of the universally human, of mank…"
"Although the quest for or preservation of “democracy” is often used as a justification for war, history has incessant…"
"Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of idea…"
"By means of ever more effective methods of mind-manipÂulation, the democracies will change their nature; the quaint o…"