I have come across men of letters who have written history without taking part in public affairs, and politicians who have concerned themselves with producing events without thinking about them. I have observed that the first are always inclined to find general causes whereas the second, living in the midst of disconnected daily facts, are prone to imagine that everything is attributable to particular incidents, and that the wires they pull are the same as those that move the world. It is to be presumed that both are equally deceived.


Recollections of Alexis de Tocqueville, p. 80

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

I have come across men of letters who have written history without taking part in public affairs, and politicians who have concerned themselves with...

I have come across men of letters who have written history without taking part in public affairs, and politicians who have concerned themselves with...

I have come across men of letters who have written history without taking part in public affairs, and politicians who have concerned themselves with...

I have come across men of letters who have written history without taking part in public affairs, and politicians who have concerned themselves with...