The first thing which strikes a traveller in the United States is the innumerable multitude of those who seek to throw off their original condition; and the second is the rarity of lofty ambition to be observed in the midst of the universally ambitious stir of society. No Americans are devoid1 of a yearning2 desire to rise; but hardly any appear to entertain hopes of great magnitude, or to drive at very lofty aims. All are constantly seeking to acquire property, power, and reputation—few contemplate3 these things upon a great scale; and this is the more surprising, as nothing is to be discerned in the manners or laws of America to limit desire, or to prevent it from spreading its impulses in every direction. It seems difficult to attribute this singular state of things to the equality of social conditions; for at the instant when that same equality was established in France, the flight of ambition became unbounded. Nevertheless, I think that the principal cause which may be assigned to this fact is to be found in the social condition and democratic manners of the Americans.
All revolutions enlarge the ambition of men: this proposition is more peculiarly true of those revolutions which overthrow4 an aristocracy. When the former barriers which kept back the multitude from fame and power are suddenly thrown down, a violent and universal rise takes place towards that eminence5 so long coveted6 and at length to be enjoyed. In this first burst of triumph nothing seems impossible to anyone: not only are desires boundless8, but the power of satisfying them seems almost boundless, too. Amidst the general and sudden renewal9 of laws and customs, in this vast confusion of all men and all ordinances10, the various members of the community rise and sink again with excessive rapidity; and power passes so quickly from hand to hand that none need despair of catching11 it in turn. It must be recollected12, moreover, that the people who destroy an aristocracy have lived under its laws; they have witnessed its splendor13, and they have unconsciously imbibed14 the feelings and notions which it entertained. Thus at the moment when an aristocracy is dissolved, its spirit still pervades15 the mass of the community, and its tendencies are retained long after it has been defeated. Ambition is therefore always extremely great as long as a democratic revolution lasts, and it will remain so for some time after the revolution is consummated16. The reminiscence of the extraordinary events which men have witnessed is not obliterated17 from their memory in a day. The passions which a revolution has roused do not disappear at its close. A sense of instability remains18 in the midst of re-established order: a notion of easy success survives the strange vicissitudes19 which gave it birth; desires still remain extremely enlarged, when the means of satisfying them are diminished day by day. The taste for large fortunes subsists20, though large fortunes are rare: and on every side we trace the ravages21 of inordinate22 and hapless ambition kindled23 in hearts which they consume in secret and in vain.
At length, however, the last vestiges24 of the struggle are effaced25; the remains of aristocracy completely disappear; the great events by which its fall was attended are forgotten; peace succeeds to war, and the sway of order is restored in the new realm; desires are again adapted to the means by which they may be fulfilled; the wants, the opinions, and the feelings of men cohere26 once more; the level of the community is permanently27 determined28, and democratic society established. A democratic nation, arrived at this permanent and regular state of things, will present a very different spectacle from that which we have just described; and we may readily conclude that, if ambition becomes great whilst the conditions of society are growing equal, it loses that quality when they have grown so. As wealth is subdivided29 and knowledge diffused30, no one is entirely31 destitute32 of education or of property; the privileges and disqualifications of caste being abolished, and men having shattered the bonds which held them fixed33, the notion of advancement34 suggests itself to every mind, the desire to rise swells35 in every heart, and all men want to mount above their station: ambition is the universal feeling.
But if the equality of conditions gives some resources to all the members of the community, it also prevents any of them from having resources of great extent, which necessarily circumscribes36 their desires within somewhat narrow limits. Thus amongst democratic nations ambition is ardent38 and continual, but its aim is not habitually39 lofty; and life is generally spent in eagerly coveting40 small objects which are within reach. What chiefly diverts the men of democracies from lofty ambition is not the scantiness41 of their fortunes, but the vehemence42 of the exertions43 they daily make to improve them. They strain their faculties44 to the utmost to achieve paltry45 results, and this cannot fail speedily to limit their discernment and to circumscribe37 their powers. They might be much poorer and still be greater. The small number of opulent citizens who are to be found amidst a democracy do not constitute an exception to this rule. A man who raises himself by degrees to wealth and power, contracts, in the course of this protracted46 labor47, habits of prudence48 and restraint which he cannot afterwards shake off. A man cannot enlarge his mind as he would his house. The same observation is applicable to the sons of such a man; they are born, it is true, in a lofty position, but their parents were humble49; they have grown up amidst feelings and notions which they cannot afterwards easily get rid of; and it may be presumed that they will inherit the propensities50 of their father as well as his wealth. It may happen, on the contrary, that the poorest scion51 of a powerful aristocracy may display vast ambition, because the traditional opinions of his race and the general spirit of his order still buoy52 him up for some time above his fortune. Another thing which prevents the men of democratic periods from easily indulging in the pursuit of lofty objects, is the lapse53 of time which they foresee must take place before they can be ready to approach them. "It is a great advantage," says Pascal, "to be a man of quality, since it brings one man as forward at eighteen or twenty as another man would be at fifty, which is a clear gain of thirty years." Those thirty years are commonly wanting to the ambitious characters of democracies. The principle of equality, which allows every man to arrive at everything, prevents all men from rapid advancement.
In a democratic society, as well as elsewhere, there are only a certain number of great fortunes to be made; and as the paths which lead to them are indiscriminately open to all, the progress of all must necessarily be slackened. As the candidates appear to be nearly alike, and as it is difficult to make a selection without infringing54 the principle of equality, which is the supreme55 law of democratic societies, the first idea which suggests itself is to make them all advance at the same rate and submit to the same probation56. Thus in proportion as men become more alike, and the principle of equality is more peaceably and deeply infused into the institutions and manners of the country, the rules of advancement become more inflexible57, advancement itself slower, the difficulty of arriving quickly at a certain height far greater. From hatred58 of privilege and from the embarrassment59 of choosing, all men are at last constrained60, whatever may be their standard, to pass the same ordeal61; all are indiscriminately subjected to a multitude of petty preliminary exercises, in which their youth is wasted and their imagination quenched62, so that they despair of ever fully63 attaining64 what is held out to them; and when at length they are in a condition to perform any extraordinary acts, the taste for such things has forsaken65 them.
In China, where the equality of conditions is exceedingly great and very ancient, no man passes from one public office to another without undergoing a probationary66 trial. This probation occurs afresh at every stage of his career; and the notion is now so rooted in the manners of the people that I remember to have read a Chinese novel, in which the hero, after numberless crosses, succeeds at length in touching67 the heart of his mistress by taking honors. A lofty ambition breathes with difficulty in such an atmosphere.
The remark I apply to politics extends to everything; equality everywhere produces the same effects; where the laws of a country do not regulate and retard68 the advancement of men by positive enactment69, competition attains70 the same end. In a well-established democratic community great and rapid elevation71 is therefore rare; it forms an exception to the common rule; and it is the singularity of such occurrences that makes men forget how rarely they happen. Men living in democracies ultimately discover these things; they find out at last that the laws of their country open a boundless field of action before them, but that no one can hope to hasten across it. Between them and the final object of their desires, they perceive a multitude of small intermediate impediments, which must be slowly surmounted72: this prospect73 wearies and discourages their ambition at once. They therefore give up hopes so doubtful and remote, to search nearer to themselves for less lofty and more easy enjoyments74. Their horizon is not bounded by the laws but narrowed by themselves.
I have remarked that lofty ambitions are more rare in the ages of democracy than in times of aristocracy: I may add that when, in spite of these natural obstacles, they do spring into existence, their character is different. In aristocracies the career of ambition is often wide, but its boundaries are determined. In democracies ambition commonly ranges in a narrower field, but if once it gets beyond that, hardly any limits can be assigned to it. As men are individually weak—as they live asunder75, and in constant motion—as precedents76 are of little authority and laws but of short duration, resistance to novelty is languid, and the fabric77 of society never appears perfectly78 erect79 or firmly consolidated80. So that, when once an ambitious man has the power in his grasp, there is nothing he may noted81 are; and when it is gone from him, he meditates82 the overthrow of the State to regain83 it. This gives to great political ambition a character of revolutionary violence, which it seldom exhibits to an equal degree in aristocratic communities. The common aspect of democratic nations will present a great number of small and very rational objects of ambition, from amongst which a few ill-controlled desires of a larger growth will at intervals84 break out: but no such a thing as ambition conceived and contrived85 on a vast scale is to be met with there.
I have shown elsewhere by what secret influence the principle of equality makes the passion for physical gratifications and the exclusive love of the present predominate in the human heart: these different propensities mingle86 with the sentiment of ambition, and tinge87 it, as it were, with their hues88. I believe that ambitious men in democracies are less engrossed89 than any others with the interests and the judgment90 of posterity91; the present moment alone engages and absorbs them. They are more apt to complete a number of undertakings92 with rapidity than to raise lasting93 monuments of their achievements; and they care much more for success than for fame. What they most ask of men is obedience—what they most covet7 is empire. Their manners have in almost all cases remained below the height of their station; the consequence is that they frequently carry very low tastes into their extraordinary fortunes, and that they seem to have acquired the supreme power only to minister to their coarse or paltry pleasures.
I think that in our time it is very necessary to cleanse94, to regulate, and to adapt the feeling of ambition, but that it would be extremely dangerous to seek to impoverish95 and to repress it over-much. We should attempt to lay down certain extreme limits, which it should never be allowed to outstep; but its range within those established limits should not be too much checked. I confess that I apprehend96 much less for democratic society from the boldness than from the mediocrity of desires. What appears to me most to be dreaded97 is that, in the midst of the small incessant98 occupations of private life, ambition should lose its vigor99 and its greatness—that the passions of man should abate100, but at the same time be lowered, so that the march of society should every day become more tranquil101 and less aspiring102. I think then that the leaders of modern society would be wrong to seek to lull103 the community by a state of too uniform and too peaceful happiness; and that it is well to expose it from time to time to matters of difficulty and danger, in order to raise ambition and to give it a field of action. Moralists are constantly complaining that the ruling vice104 of the present time is pride. This is true in one sense, for indeed no one thinks that he is not better than his neighbor, or consents to obey his superior: but it is extremely false in another; for the same man who cannot endure subordination or equality, has so contemptible105 an opinion of himself that he thinks he is only born to indulge in vulgar pleasures. He willingly takes up with low desires, without daring to embark106 in lofty enterprises, of which he scarcely dreams. Thus, far from thinking that humility107 ought to be preached to our contemporaries, I would have endeavors made to give them a more enlarged idea of themselves and of their kind. Humility is unwholesome to them; what they most want is, in my opinion, pride. I would willingly exchange several of our small virtues108 for this one vice.
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1
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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covet
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| vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西) | |
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boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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renewal
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| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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consummated
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| v.使结束( consummate的过去式和过去分词 )；使完美；完婚；（婚礼后的）圆房 | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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subsists
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的第三人称单数 ) | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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cohere
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| vt.附着，连贯，一致 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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subdivided
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| 再分，细分( subdivide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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circumscribes
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| v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的第三人称单数 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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circumscribe
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| v.在...周围划线，限制，约束 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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coveting
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| v.贪求，觊觎( covet的现在分词 ) | |
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scantiness
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| n.缺乏 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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propensities
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| n.倾向，习性( propensity的名词复数 ) | |
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scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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buoy
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| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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54
infringing
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| v.违反（规章等）( infringe的现在分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等） | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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inflexible
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| adj.不可改变的，不受影响的，不屈服的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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probationary
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| 试用的，缓刑的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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retard
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| n.阻止，延迟；vt.妨碍，延迟，使减速 | |
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enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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enjoyments
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| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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precedents
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| 引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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80
consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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81
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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82
meditates
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的第三人称单数 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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83
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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84
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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85
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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86
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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88
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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89
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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90
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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92
undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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impoverish
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| vt.使穷困，使贫困 | |
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apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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100
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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101
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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103
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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104
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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105
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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106
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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107
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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108
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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