Hello.
The quote appears in Volume 1, Chapter XVIII of de Tocqueville's
"Democracy in America" (1835)
Here is the complete quote as it appears on page 452 of my copy of the
book (Vintage Books/Random House/Knopf 1945 edition):
"There are, at the present time, two great nations in the world
which seem to tend towards the same end, although they started from
different points: I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of
them have grown up unnoticed; and whilst the attention of mankind was
directed elsewhere, they have suddenly assumed a most prominent place
amongst the nations; and the world learned their existence and their
greatness at almost the same time.
All other nations seem to have nearly reached their natural
limits, and only to be charged with the maintenance of their power;
but these are still in the act of growth.101 All the others have
stopped, or continue to advance with extreme difficulty; these are
proceeding with ease and with celerity along a path to which the human
eye can assign no term. The American struggles against the natural
obstacles which oppose him; the adversaries of the Russian are men;
the former combats the wilderness and savage life; the latter,
civilization with all its weapons and its arts: the conquests of the
one are therefore gained by the ploughshare; those of the other by the
sword. The Anglo-American relies upon personal interest to accomplish
his ends, and gives free scope to the unguided exertions and
common-sense of the citizens; the Russian centers all the authority of
society in a single arm; the principal instrument of the former is
freedom; of the latter servitude. Their starting-point is different,
and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems to be
marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the
globe."
"[Footnote] 101. The population of Russia increases proportionately
more rapidly than that of any other country in the Old World."
A slightly different translation appears in the full-text "Democracy
in America" hosted by University of Virginia:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/1_ch18.htm
Portions of the quote appear on numerous web pages in various forms:
"Stiff Right Jab - Russia: A Bear Trap Alliance?", hosted by geocities
http://www.geocities.com/graymada/SRJ/rbbb.html
"Values", hosted by freeyellow.com
http://hjones.freeyellow.com/quotev.htm
"The Self and the Dramas of History by Reinhold Niebuhr", hosted by
religion-online.org
http://www.religion-online.org/cgi-bin/relsearchd.dll/showchapter?chapter_id=426
search strategy: tocqueville, "democracy in america", russia
I hope this helps. |
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