“An American cannot converse, but he can discuss, and his talk falls into a dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to become warm in the discussion, he will say "Gentlemen" to the person with whom he is conversing.”

— Alexis De Tocqueville, book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter X-XIV, Chapter XIV

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Alexis De Tocqueville135

French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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