Every central government worships uniformity: uniformity relieves it from inquiry into an infinity of details.
Alexis de TocquevilleWhat is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself.
Alexis de TocquevilleI have always thought it rather interesting to follow the involuntary movements of fear in clever people. Fools coarsely display their cowardice in all its nakedness, but the others are able to cover it with a veil so delicate, so daintily woven with small plausible lies, that there is some pleasure to be found in contemplating this ingenious work of the human intelligence.
Alexis de TocquevilleMen seldom take the opinion of their equal, or of a man like themselves, upon trust.
Alexis de TocquevilleIn America one of the first things done in a new State is to make the post go there; in the forests of Michigan there is no cabin so isolated, no valley so wild, but that letters and newspapers arrive at least once a week.
Alexis de TocquevilleThere is hardly a congressman prepared to go home until he has at least one speech printed and sent to his constituents, and he won't let anybody interrupt his harangue until he has made all his useful suggestions about the 24 states of the Union, and especially the district he represents.
Alexis de Tocqueville