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… is from page 190 of the 1955 edition of the Stuart Gilbert translation of Alexis de Tocqueville’s masterpiece The Old Regime and the French Revolution [2]:
Thus every small holder had learned by personal experience how little heed was given to the rights of individuals when it was in the public interest to ride roughshod over them – a lesson he took care to keep in mind when it was a question of applying it to others for his own benefit.