“Step back in time; look closely at the child in the very arms of his mother; see the external world reflected for the first time in the yet unclear mirror of his understanding; study the first examples which strike his eyes; listen to the first words which arouse within him the slumbering power of thought; watch the first struggles which he has to undergo; only then will you comprehend the source of his prejudices, the habits, and the passions which are to rule his life. The entire man, so to speak, comes fully formed in the wrappings of his cradle.”

— Alexis De Tocqueville , book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter I-V, Chapter II.

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Alexis De Tocqueville 135

French political thinker and historian 1805–1859

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