In the United States, religion exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the customs of the community, and by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state.
Alexis de Tocqueville
By Regulating Domestic Life
Topic: Family & Friendship
‘In the United States, religion exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the customs of the community, and by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state.‘
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, Viscount de Tocqueville (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859) was a French diplomat, political scientist and historian. He was best known for his works Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes, 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both, he analyzed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's travels in the United States and is today considered an early work of sociology and political science.
Democracy in America
Wilson, Andrew, editor. World Scripture II. Universal Peace Federation, 2011, p. 980 [Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Pg. 183].
Alexis de Tocqueville
Copyright © 2017 – 2025 LuminaryQuotes.com About Us
The Home We Build Together
“Faith schools and religious communities… protect endangered values. They are seedbeds of unfashionable virtues. Tocqueville saw this in nineteenth-century America: ‘In the United States, religion exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public opinion; but it directs the customs of the community, and by regulating domestic life, it regulates the state.’ It sanctifies marriage. Therefore it preserved society. If marriage is to be renewed in our society, it will be, not least, because of our religious counter-cultures.”
–Jonathan Sacks (The Home We Build Together) P. 216