Alexis de Tocqueville: [A] Democracy in America, 1835, 1840 21

The power of the majority itself is not unlimited. In any constitutional state in Europe, every sort of religious and political theory may be freely preached and disseminated; for there is no country in Europe so subdued by any single authority as not to protect the man who raises his voice in the cause of truth from the consequences of his hardihood. Equality awakens in men several propensities extremely dangerous to freedom. Men living in democratic ages do not readily comprehend the utility of forms. Forms excite their contempt and often their hatred; as they commonly aspire to none but easy and present gratifications, they rush onwards to the object of their desires, and the slightest delay exasperates them. The universal voting had shaken the country from top to bottom without bringing to light a single new man worthy of coming to the front.