# Looking for a quote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279 "2000-10-25T17:05:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/1 "2000-10-25T17:05:15Z")
I’ve been looking without success for a quote I wanted to use for my sig line during this political season. I’m probably mangling this unmercifully, which is also probably why I can’t find it, but here goes: “The state can only survive so long as the populace does not realize that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury.” Or something to that effect. I believe the author was Roman, and was referring to the ‘bread and circuses’ policies of the Roman empire during its decline. Can anyone help a poor ignorant Doper? ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/2 "2000-10-25T17:39:27Z")
The guys name is Alexis de Toqueville, but I’m pretty sure I’m spelling his last name wrong. ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/3 "2000-10-25T17:41:47Z")
Tocqueville. I was close. Look him up on Britannica – they probably have that quote in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/4 "2000-10-25T20:12:38Z")
Tocqueville talked about politicians bribing the American people with the people’s own money. I can’t find the exact quotation, though. Tocqueville was not Roman, however, so that may not be what you’re thinking of. The phrase “bread and circuses” comes (I think) from Juvenal, a Roman satirist. He said of the average Roman citizen _Duas tantum res anxius optat, Panem et circenses_ {“He only thinks of two things: Bread and circuses.”) ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/5 "2000-10-26T01:19:47Z")
Thank you **jmullaney** and **bibliophage** , I haven’t found the quote yet, but I’ve had a lot of fun chasing Monsieur Tocqueville throught the internet so far. If I ever do find it, I’ll post it here. ---
**Author:** ![maralinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@maralinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maralinn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/6 "2000-10-26T14:47:17Z")
Lots of boolean searchers on the web, like Alta Vista, and they’re actually pretty easy to use. A search for “largess and treasury” yields this: “Eighteenth century Scottish historian Alexander Tytler postulated: ‘A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.’” You can always call your public library for stuff like this. (If a public library reference department doesn’t know how to do boolean web searchers, complain to the board.) ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2000, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-quote/38279/7 "2000-10-26T19:46:06Z")
Thank you **maralinn!** That was the quote that was running around in the back of my mind. I remember about boolean algebra. My problem seems to be convincing the search function that when I say ‘and’, I mean ‘and’, not ‘or’.