According to Michael A. Ledeen, this line has been falsely attributed to Tocqueville by Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan. See Tocqueville on American Character (2001), p. 25 http://books.google.com/books?id=gFjQUXYsSR0C&pg=PA25. Hillary Clinton in her acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention (July 29, 2016), said, without attribution, "America is great because America is good."
Misattributed
“Nor is it a matter for wonder that the good do not appear herded in great thongs. First because specimens of great goodness are rare, secondly, because they avoid the great crowd of the more thoughtless and keep themselves at leisure for the contemplation of what nature has to show.”
63.
Every Good Man is Free
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Philo 41
Roman philosopher -15–45 BCRelated quotes
“America is great – because America is good.”
Presidential campaign (April 12, 2015 – 2016), 2016 Democratic National Convention (July 28, 2016)
Source: "America is great because America is good" can be found in a contribution by Reverend Clarenca Reynolds to the September 6, 1922 https://books.google.com/books?id=3sYpAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PT21 issue of the Herald and Presbyter. The line is sometime falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville.
Context: We will stand up against mean and divisive rhetoric wherever it comes from. You know, for the past year, many people made the mistake of laughing off Donald Trump's comments – excusing him as an entertainer just putting on a show. They think he couldn't possibly mean all the horrible things he says – like when he called women “pigs.”Or said that an American judge couldn't be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Or when he mocks and mimics a reporter with a disability. Or insults prisoners of war like John McCain –a true hero and patriot who deserves our respect. At first, I admit, I couldn't believe he meant it either. It was just too hard to fathom – that someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things. Could be like that. But here's the sad truth: There is no other Donald Trump.... This is it. And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesn't get: that America is great – because America is good.
Marcus Crouch The Nesbit Tradition: The Children's Novel in England, 1945-70 (London: Ernest Benn, 1972) p. 107.
Criticism
Preface.
A History of Science Vol.1 Ancient Science Through the Golden Age of Greece (1952)
Source: The Friends of Voltaire (1906), Ch. 7 : Helvétius : The Contradiction, p. 188
Source: The Dark Is Rising (1965-1977), Silver on the Tree (1977), Chapter 12 “The Journey” (p. 164)
Progress In Religion (2000)
Context: I am neither a saint nor a theologian. To me, good works are more important than theology. We all know that religion has been historically, and still is today, a cause of great evil as well as great good in human affairs. We have seen terrible wars and terrible persecutions conducted in the name of religion. We have also seen large numbers of people inspired by religion to lives of heroic virtue, bringing education and medical care to the poor, helping to abolish slavery and spread peace among nations. Religion amplifies the good and evil tendencies of individual souls.