Alexis de Tocqueville

As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? ”

The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. ”

In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end. ”

The French want no-one to be their superior. The English want inferiors. The Frenchman constantly raises his eyes above him with anxiety. The Englishman lowers his beneath him with satisfaction. ”

In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is owned. ”

Life is to be entered upon with courage. ”

No state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and though different men may sometimes find it their interest to combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their pleasure. ”

The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle. ”

Consider any individual at any period of his life, and you will always find him preoccupied with fresh plans to increase his comfort. ”

Nothing seems at first sight less important than the outward form of human actions, yet there is nothing upon which men set more store: they grow used to everything except to living in a society which has not their own manners. ”