"By and large the literature of a democracy……" — Alexis De Tocqueville
"By and large the literature of a democracy will never exhibit the order, regularity, skill, and art characteristic of aristocratic literature; formal qualities will be neglected or actually despised. The style will often be strange, incorrect, overburdened, and loose, and almost always strong and bold. Writers will be more anxious to work quickly than to perfect details. Short works will be commoner than long books, wit than erudition, imagination than depth. There will be a rude and untutored vigor of thought with great variety and singular fecundity. Authors will strive to astonish more than to please, and to stir passions rather than to charm taste."
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Alexis De Tocqueville
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257 Quotes by Alexis De Tocqueville
Alexis De Tocqueville has 257 quotes on this site.
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When fortune has been abolished, when every profession is open to everyone, an ambitious man may think it is easy…
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Nothing is so dangerous as that of violence employed by well-meaning people for beneficial objects.
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If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half…
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I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large…
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Muhammad professed to derive from Heaven, and he has inserted in the Koran, not only a body of religious doctrines,…
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The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all…
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When none but the wealthy had watches, they were almost all very good ones; few are now made which are…
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Whatever may be the general endeavor of a community to render its members equal and alike, the personal pride of…
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Freedom sees in religion the companion of its struggles and its triumphs, the cradle of its infancy, the divine source…
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When the people rule, they must be rendered happy, or they will overturn the state.
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Chance does nothing that has not been prepared beforehand.
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The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.
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The course of a river is almost always disapproved of by the source.
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We are almost always guilty of the hate we encounter.
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