Born in 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher.

Above: Detail of Tocqueville’s portrait by Théodore Chassériau (1850).

Couple of choice quotes:

“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.”

“One finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom.”