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
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
In a democracy, those who choose to impose taxes can avoid paying them themselves.
This quote by Alexis De Tocqueville highlights a paradox in democratic systems, where the power to levy taxes often resides with those who can strategically benefit from evading those same taxes. It underlines the potential for inequity in tax systems where policymakers may not bear the financial burdens of their decisions, leading to questions about fairness and responsibility in governance.
Themes
DemocracyTaxationGovernmentEqualityResponsibility
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate about tax reform to illustrate the responsibilities of elected officials.
More from Alexis De Tocqueville
All quotes βDemocratic 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
Living is being born slowly. It would be a little too easy if we could borrow ready-made souls.
Antoine De Saint-ExuperyRead
Do you ever suddenly find it strange to be yourself?
Clarice LispectorRead
Now the relation which, in the sphere of nature, being and semblance or sensation bear to one another in this antithesis, is the same as that which in ethics exists between good and pleasure or feeling.
Friedrich SchleiermacherRead
Self-definition and self-determination is about the many varied decisions that we make to compose and journey toward ourselves, about the audacity and strength to proclaim, create, and evolve into who we know ourselves to be. Itβs okay if your personal definition is in a constant state of flux as you navigate the world.
Janet MockRead
I believe that the place where an animal dies is a sacred one. There is a need to bring ritual into the conventional slaughter plants and use as a means to shape people's behavior. It would help prevent people from becoming numbed, callous, or cruel. The ritual could be something very simple, such as a moment of silence. In addition to developing better designs and making equipment to insure the humane treatments of all animals, that would be my contribution.
Temple GrandinRead
My choices, including those related to the day-to-day aspects of life, like the use of a modest car, are related to a spiritual discernment that responds to a need that arises from looking at things, at people and from reading the signs of the times. Discernment in the Lord guides me in my way of governing.
Pope FrancisRead