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.

So many of my thoughts and feelings are shared by the English that England has turned into a second native land of the mind for me.

What is understood by republican government in the United States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself.

The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things...among democratic nations they are two unequal things.

[R]eligion cannot share the material strength of the rulers without being burdened with some of the animosity roused against them.

Can it be believed that the democracy, which has overthrown the feudal system and vanquished kings, will retreat before tradesmen and capitalists?

It would seem that if despotism were to be established among the democratic nations of our days, it might assume a different character; it would be more extensive and more mild; it would degrade men without tormenting them. I do not question that, in an age of instruction and equality like our own, sovereigns might more easily succeed in collecting all political power into their own hands and might interfere more habitually and decidedly with the circle of private interests than any sovereign of antiquity could ever do.