Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c171IR // #c171Verbatim excerpt
In America I saw the freest and most enlightened men, placed in the happiest circumstances which the world affords: it seemed to me as if a cloud habitually hung upon their brow, and I thought them serious and almost sad even in their pleasures.

— Source: Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville)

[Use when]

When success does not feel like it.

[Why it matters]

The paradox of prosperity: the freest men brooding over advantages they do not possess, feverishly pursuing welfare.

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