Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be.

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.

If an American was condemned to confine his activity to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his existence.

A French observer is surprised to hear how often an English or an American lawyer quotes the opinions of others, and how little he alludes to his own; ... This abnegation of his own opinion, and this implicit deference to the opinion of his forefathers, which are common to the English and American lawyer, this servitude of thought which he is obliged to profess, necessarily give him more timid habits and more conservative inclinations in England and America than in France.

The evil which one suffers patiently as inevitable seems insupportable as soon as he conceives the idea of escaping from it.

As the past has ceased to throw its light upon the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity.

Comfort becomes a goal when distinctions of rank are abolished and privileges destroyed.