quote · Legacy record
The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits of mind. As they perceive that they succeed in resolving without assistance all the little difficulties which their practical life presents, they readily conclude that everything in the world may be explained, and that nothing in it transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall to denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little faith for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable distaste for whatever is supernatural.
The practice which obtains amongst the Americans of fixing the standard of their judgment in themselves alone, leads them to other habits of mind. As they perceive that they succeed in resolving without assistance all the little difficulties which their practical life presents, they readily conclude that everything in the world may be explained, and that nothing in it transcends the limits of the understanding. Thus they fall to denying what they cannot comprehend; which leaves them but little faith for whatever is extraordinary, and an almost insurmountable distaste for whatever is supernatural.
Approximate author period: c. 1832 AD · industrial
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- Author or tradition
- Alexis de Tocqueville
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 1832 AD · industrial
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1805 to 1859; Wikidata Q140694, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q140694 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 241623; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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