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
When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . . It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . . they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A warning about the dangers of prioritizing physical pleasures over personal growth and self-governance.
In this quote, Alexis De Tocqueville reflects on the relationship between education, self-restraint, and the pursuit of physical gratifications. He suggests that when a society becomes more focused on immediate pleasures rather than self-education and mastery, individuals may willingly surrender their rights and freedoms, ultimately leading to a loss of autonomy and self-governance.
Themes
Self-RestraintEducationFreedomPleasureAutonomy
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar about self-improvement, one might reference this quote to discuss the importance of prioritizing education over fleeting pleasures.
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.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
The Indian knew how to live without wants, to suffer without complaint, and to die singing.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.
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