“In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.”

—  Alexis De Tocqueville

The quote "In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve." is famous quote attributed to Alexis De Tocqueville (1805–1859), French political thinker and historian.

It was Joseph de Maistre who wrote in 1811 "Every nation gets the government it deserves."
Misattributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 16, 2024. History

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Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Alexis De Tocqueville 135
French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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Joseph De Maistre photo

“Every nation gets the government it deserves.”

Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821) Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat

Toute nation a le gouvernement qu'elle mérite.
Correspondance diplomatique, tome 2. Paris : Michel Lévy frères libraires éditeurs, 1860, p.196.
Famous Sayings and their Authors, Edward Latham, 1906, Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=xvkNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA181.
Bartlett's Roget's Thesaurus, 2003, Google Books http://books.google.com/books?id=D8yVAC8CtO4C&printsec=frontcover.
Letter 76, on the topic of Russia's new constitutional laws (27 August 1811); published in Lettres et Opuscules. The English translation has several variations, including "Every country has the government it deserves" and "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." The quote is popularly misattributed to better-known commentators such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Abraham Lincoln.

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“The failure of a free press in most countries is usually blamed on the readers. Every nation gets the government—and the press—it deserves. This is too facile a remark. The people deserve better in most governments and press. Readers, in millions of cases, have no way of finding out whether their newspapers are fair or not, honest or distorted, truthful or colored….”

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Incorporates the famous observation of Joseph de Maistre that "every nation gets the government it deserves."

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