"We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects"
About this Quote
Tocqueville smuggles a mildly scandalous idea into a tidy piece of bourgeois wisdom: your flaws aren’t just obstacles to manage; they can be fuel. The first clause nods to the standard meritocratic story - competence produces success. The second clause twists the knife. “Excel” arrives only when the enterprise is elastic enough to convert your defects into advantage. It’s an almost proto-systems view of character: performance isn’t the pure expression of virtue, it’s the fit between a person’s whole psychological inventory and the incentives of the task.
The intent is diagnostic, not consoling. Tocqueville spent his career studying how institutions and cultures don’t merely reward goodness; they select for particular temperaments. In Democracy in America, he’s fascinated by how democratic life channels ambition, restlessness, conformity, and vanity into productivity and civic energy. This line belongs to that world: modern societies, especially commercial ones, are expert at laundering vice into usefulness. Impatience becomes “drive.” Aggression becomes “leadership.” Even insecurity can become the engine of achievement if the environment pays for overcompensation.
The subtext is sharper than it looks. If systems can “make use of our defects,” then excellence can be morally ambiguous. You may shine not despite your vanity but because a culture of competition monetizes it. Tocqueville isn’t romanticizing brokenness; he’s warning that what we celebrate as brilliance often reflects what an era is designed to exploit. Excellence, in other words, is partly an indictment of the game you’re winning.
The intent is diagnostic, not consoling. Tocqueville spent his career studying how institutions and cultures don’t merely reward goodness; they select for particular temperaments. In Democracy in America, he’s fascinated by how democratic life channels ambition, restlessness, conformity, and vanity into productivity and civic energy. This line belongs to that world: modern societies, especially commercial ones, are expert at laundering vice into usefulness. Impatience becomes “drive.” Aggression becomes “leadership.” Even insecurity can become the engine of achievement if the environment pays for overcompensation.
The subtext is sharper than it looks. If systems can “make use of our defects,” then excellence can be morally ambiguous. You may shine not despite your vanity but because a culture of competition monetizes it. Tocqueville isn’t romanticizing brokenness; he’s warning that what we celebrate as brilliance often reflects what an era is designed to exploit. Excellence, in other words, is partly an indictment of the game you’re winning.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
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