At every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure; and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have as yet only discovered a small number of conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years, without either laying a firmer grasp on truth, or finding novelty even in its errors.

Le passé n'éclairant plus l'avenir, l'esprit marche dans les ténèbres.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Democracy in America

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More information about this quote

Topic

Learning from the past Ignorance of history History The past Ignorance

Author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Source

Democracy in America

Genre

Political literature

Language

French

Time

1840 1840s 19th century

Occupation

Historian Writer

From

France Europe

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Tocqueville, Alexis De. De La Democratie en Amerique [Democracy in America]. Vol. 2, London: Saunders and Otley, 1840, sect. 1, ch. 5.

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. 5.

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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1840s

Not a "gay science," I should say, like some we have heard of; no, a dreary, desolate, and, indeed, quite abject and distressing one: what we might call, by way of eminence, the dismal science.

Thomas Carlyle

More information about this quote
Topic
Economics

Author

Thomas Carlyle
Language
English
Time
1849 1840s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Carlyle, Thomas [published anonymously]. "Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question." Fraser's Magazine, Dec. 1849.

Current Citation

Carlyle, Thomas. "The Nigger Question." The Works of Thomas Carlyle, edited by Henry Duff Traill. Vol. 29, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Another quote about The past

The past is never dead. It's not even past.

William Faulkner

Requiem for a Nun

More information about this quote
Topic
Effects of the past Past and present The past
Speaker
Stevens

Author

William Faulkner
Source
Requiem for a Nun
Medium
Novel
Language
English
Time
1951 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Faulkner, William. Requiem for a Nun. Random House, 1951.

Current Citation

Faulkner, William. Requiem for a Nun. Vintage, 2012.

Another quote originally in French

For truth itself does not have the privilege to be employed at any time and in every way; its use, noble as it is, has its circumscriptions and limits.

Michel de Montaigne

Essays

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More information about this quote
Topic
Nature of truth

Author

Michel de Montaigne
Source
Of Experience Essays
Medium
Essay
Language
French
Time
1580 1580s 16th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "De l'Experience [Of Experience]." Essais [Essays]. Paris: Simon Millanges and Jean Richer, 1580.

Current Citation

De Montaigne, Michel. "On Experience." The Complete Essays, edited and translated by M. A. Screech. Penguin Classics, 1993.