Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.

It can not even be said that the State has ever shown any disposition to suppress crime, but only to read more

It can not even be said that the State has ever shown any disposition to suppress crime, but only to safeguard its own monopoly of crime.

In modern war, the longest purse decides oftener than the longest sword.

In modern war, the longest purse decides oftener than the longest sword.

All revolutions...have been led by persons who knew oppression well, but not on their own skin.

All revolutions...have been led by persons who knew oppression well, but not on their own skin.

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.

There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.

Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or read more

Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.

Never befriend the oppressed unless you are prepared to take on the oppressor.

Never befriend the oppressed unless you are prepared to take on the oppressor.

People constantly speak of "the government" doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the read more

People constantly speak of "the government" doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. They may have some better man working for them, but they themselves are seldom worthy of any respect.

Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems read more

Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems almost within reach. A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. De Tocqueville in his researches into the state of society in France before the revolution was struck by the discovery that "in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event." He is forced to conclude that "the French found their position the more intolerable the better it became.