History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.
The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.
Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?
When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.
There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.
I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.
In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships.
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.
What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist, but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men, but they do not form a class.
In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned.
I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.
Those that despise people will never get the best out of others and themselves.
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.
There is hardly a political question in the United States which does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.
In America the majority raises formidable barriers around the liberty of opinion; within these barriers an author may write what he pleases, but woe to him if he goes beyond them.
