Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) on Individualism
As social conditions become more equal, the number of persons increases who, although they are neither rich nor powerful enough to exercise any great influence over their fellows, have nevertheless acquired or retained sufficient education and fortune to satisfy their own wants. They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands.
(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. Henry Reeve [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945 (1840)], pt. 2, bk. 2, chap. 2, p. 99)
Posted at 2:13 PM CT on Sunday, 31 October 2004