《论美国的民主·卷二·二部·第八章·正确理解的利益》第4节
I do not think upon the whole that there is more egotism amongst us than in America; the only difference is, that there it is enlightened--here it is not. Every American will sacrifice a portion of his private interests to preserve the rest; we would fain preserve the whole, and oftentimes the whole is lost. Everybody I see about me seems bent on teaching his contemporaries, by precept and example, that what is useful is never wrong. Will nobody undertake to make them understand how what is right may be useful? No power upon earth can prevent the increasing equality of conditions from inclining the human mind to seek out what is useful, or from leading every member of the community to be wrapped up in himself. It must therefore be expected that personal interest will become more than ever the principal, if not the sole, spring of men's actions; but it remains to be seen how each man will understand his personal interest. If the members of a community, as they become more equal, become more ignorant and coarse, it is difficult to foresee to what pitch of stupid excesses their egotism may lead them; and no one can foretell into what disgrace and wretchedness they would plunge themselves, lest they should have to sacrifice something of their own well-being to the prosperity of their fellow-creatures. I do not think that the system of interest, as it is professed in America, is, in all its parts, self-evident; but it contains a great number of truths so evident that men, if they are but educated, cannot fail to see them. Educate, then, at any rate; for the age of implicit self-sacrifice and instinctive virtues is already flitting far away from us, and the time is fast approaching when freedom, public peace, and social order itself will not be able to exist without education.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这一段里，把整章的论证推向了跨大西洋的比较，也把自己的担忧和呼吁和盘托出。他说得很明白：他不认为法国（那时是七月王朝治下）比美国有更多的自私自利，真正的差别在于美国人已经学会了一种“开明的”自私，而法国人还没有。所谓“开明的”自私，就是承认自己不可能把全部私人利益都抓在手里，于是情愿牺牲一小部分，好保全剩下的那一大部分。而法国人——托克维尔看到的…