The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all the changes are alike.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
The only authors whom I acknowledge as American are the journalists. They, indeed, are not great writers, but they speak the language of their countrymen, and make themselves heard by them.
Interpretation
De Tocqueville emphasizes the significance of journalists in American society as the true voice of the people, despite their literary limitations.
In this quote, Alexis De Tocqueville highlights the unique role of journalists in American culture, contrasting them with traditional authors. He suggests that while journalists may not achieve the heights of literary greatness, they effectively communicate and resonate with the everyday experiences and language of the American populace, thereby fulfilling an important social function.
In practice
In a speech about the role of media in democracy.
The aspect of American society is animated, because men and things are always changing; but it is monotonous, because all the changes are alike.
Democratic communities have a natural taste for freedom: left to themselves they will seek it, cherish it, and view any deprivation of it with regret. But for equality their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible: they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery.
Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions
The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colours breaking through.
The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.
Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
One of the dilemmas of architecture in general is that there is a Catch-22 - you can't actually get to be commissioned to do certain types of building until you've already built that type of building. So it seems to be incredibly hard to get going.
Psychologism is, I believe, correct only in so far as it insists upon what may be called 'methodological individualism' as opposed to 'methodological collectivism'; it rightly insists that the 'behaviour' and the 'actions' of collectives, such as states or social groups, must be reduced to the behaviour and to the actions of human individuals. But the belief that the choice of such an individualist method implies the choice of a psychological method is mistaken.
Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.
They who prematurely put themselves forward to root out whatever is displeasing to them overthrow the judgment of God and rashly intrude upon the office of angels.
This truth may be unfashionable, unpalatable, no doubt unpopular, but, if it is the truth, the story of mankind shows that war was universal and unceasing for millions of years before armaments were invented or armies organized. Indeed, the lucid intervals of peace and order only occurred in human history after armaments in the hands of strong governments have come into being, and civilization in every age has been nursed only in cradles guarded by superior weapons and superior discipline.
But there are some situations of the human mind in which good sense has very little power.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.