Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of… — Alexis de Tocqueville
Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be; in this direction their unbounded imagination grows and dilates beyond all measure.... Democracy, which shuts the past against the poet, opens the future before him.
In the original French
Les peuples démocratiques ne s'inquiètent guère de ce qui a été; mais ils rêvent volontiers à ce qui sera, et, de ce côté, leur imagination n'a point de limites; elle s'y étend et s'y agrandit sans mesure...La démocratie, qui ferme le passé à la poésie, lui ouvre l'avenir.
Democracy in America · 1840
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Current citation
Tocqueville, Alexis De. Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II, translated by Henry Reeve. Bantam Classics, 2000, vol. 2, sect. 1, ch. 17.
Original citation
Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 1, ch. 17.
