“No Americans are devoid of a yearning desire to rise, but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great magnitude or to pursue very lofty aims. All are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation.”

—  Alexis De Tocqueville , book Democracy in America

Book Three, Chapter XIX.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book Two
Context: The First thing that strikes a traveler in the United States is the innumerable multitude of those who seek to emerge from their original condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans are devoid of a yearning desire to rise, but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great magnitude or to pursue very lofty aims. All are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation.

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Alexis De Tocqueville photo
Alexis De Tocqueville 135
French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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