The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens. -Alexis de Tocqueville

---

An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say 'Gentlemen' to the person with whom he is conversing. - Alexis de Tocqueville

---

There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin. - Alexis de Tocqueville

---

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies. - Alexis de Tocqueville

---

History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies. -Alexis de Tocqueville

---

The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle. - Alexis de Tocqueville

---

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? - Alexis de Tocqueville

---

In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end. -Alexis de Tocqueville

---

We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects. -Alexis de Tocqueville

---

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction. - Alexis de Tocqueville

---