The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all the changes are alike.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage. That is a commonplace truth, but one to which my studies are always bringing me back. It is the central point in my conception. I see it at the end of all my reflections.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Laws alone are ineffective without moral integrity; morality can enhance the worst laws.
Alexis De Tocqueville emphasizes that the effectiveness of a constitution is not solely determined by its legal framework but heavily relies on the moral values of the society it governs. He asserts that even the best laws lose their power without the support of a morally upright populace, while conversely, a morally sound society can make even inadequate laws function effectively.
Themes
LawsMoralsConstitutionSocietyGovernance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of ethics in law, one might say, 'As Alexis De Tocqueville noted, the best laws cannot make a constitution work without the foundation of morals.'
More from Alexis De Tocqueville
All quotes →Democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves they will seek it, cherish it, and view any deprivation of it with regret. But for equality their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
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.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
Similar quotes
It is also possible for the unconscious or an archetype to take complete possession of a man and to determine his fate down to the smallest detail
Carl JungRead
Sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart, he had become a dragon himself.
C. S. LewisRead
Wars are fought for the benefit of oligarchs, triumphs bought with the blood of peons.
Marcel ProustRead
If God is the Creator of all things and evil is a thing, then God is the Creator of evil and He is to be blamed for its existence. No, evil is not a thing but a wrong choice, or the damage done by a wrong choice. Evil is no more a positive thing than blindness is, but it is just as real.
Peter KreeftRead
It is the Late city that first defies the land, contradicts Nature in the lines of its silhouette, denies all Nature. It wants to be something different from and higher than Nature. These high-pitched gables, these Baroque cupolas, spires, and pinnacles, neither are, nor desire to be, related with anything in Nature. And then begins the gigantic megalopolis, the city-as-world, which suffers nothing beside itself and sets about annihilating the country picture.
Oswald SpenglerRead
Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watch – this is the Capitol’s way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen
Suzanne CollinsRead