Modesty and conscientiousness receive their reward only in novels. In life they are exploited and then shoved aside.

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Life is to be entered upon with courage. -Alexis de Tocqueville

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There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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In other words, a democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin. - Alexis de Tocqueville

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It is rare and almost impossible for a novel to have only one narrator.

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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

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When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness. -Alexis de Tocqueville

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There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be. - Doris Lessing

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As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in? - Alexis de Tocqueville

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