“When an opinion has taken root in a democracy and established itself in the minds of the majority, it afterward persists by itself, needing no effort to maintain it since no one attacks it. Those who at first rejected it as false come in the end to adopt it as accepted, and even those who still at the bottom of their hearts oppose it keep their views to themselves, taking great care to avoid a dangerous and futile contest.”

— Alexis De Tocqueville , book Democracy in America

Book Three, Chapter XXI.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book Three

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Alexis De Tocqueville 135

French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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““Culture” means … the cultivation of the mind, the taking care and improving of the native faculties of the mind in accordance with the nature of the mind. Just as the soil needs cultivators of the soil, the mind needs teachers. But teachers are not as easy to come by as farmers. The teachers themselves are pupils and must be pupils. But there cannot be an infinite regress: ultimately there must be teachers who are not in turn pupils. Those teachers who are not in turn pupils are the great minds.”

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“Justice is taking care of those who aren't able to take care of themselves.”

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Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

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“When once the mind has raised itself to grasp and to delight in excellence, those who love most will be found to love most wisely.”

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Alexis De Tocqueville 135

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