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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Education and individual differences shape society, preventing true uniformity among people.
This quote by Alexis De Tocqueville highlights the idea that despite the structural similarities imposed by society and laws, individual differences stemming from education, luck, and personal tastes will always emerge. While people may unite for shared goals, genuine pleasure and satisfaction cannot be universally achieved due to the inherent diversity among them.
Themes
EducationSocietyDifferencesIndividualityUnity
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion on social policies, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of recognizing individual differences.
More from Alexis De Tocqueville
All quotes →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.
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Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions
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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.
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The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.
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Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
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