Democracy does not give the people the most skillful government, but it produces what the ablest governments are frequently unable to create: namely, an all-pervading and restless activity, a superabundant force, and an energy which is inseparable from it and which may, however unfavorable circumstances may be, produce wonders.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French writer and politician
Democracy in America, 1.14 (1835) [tr. Reeve and Bowen (1862)]
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