Touched by a footnote


"[Plymouth Rock] has become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns in the Union. Does not this sufficiently show how all human power and greatness are entirely in the soul? Here is a stone which the feet of a few poor fugitives pressed for an instant, and this stone becomes famous; it is treasured by a great nation, a fragment is prized as a relic. But what has become of the doorsteps of a thousand palaces? Who troubles himself about them?" -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

I have recently started reading the book from which this quotation comes, and I am very impressed so far. Tocqueville's writing, even on the seemingly mundane subject of the geography of America, is full of metaphorical description that brings to life the inanimate and gives significance to a history long forgotten by this generation.

The quotation above was merely a footnote in the text, but its richness surpasses the best literary work of today. Tocqueville seems to have an insight that is long lost to modern writers, a talent for perceiving the truth rather than projecting a vision of reality through a filter of preconceived opinion. Though he may be accused of embellishment, his sincerity quickly dissolves away any such thought.

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