I have frequently used the word "equality" in an absolute sense--nay, I have personified equality in several places; thus I have said that equality does such and such things, or refrains from doing others.

It may be affirmed that the writers of the age of Louis XIV would not have used these expressions: they would never have thought of using the word "equality" without applying it to some particular object; and they would rather have renounced the term altogether than have consented to make a living personage of it.
These abstract terms which abound in democratic languages, and which are used on every occasion without attaching them to any particular fact, enlarge and obscure the thoughts they are intended to convey; they render the mode of speech more succinct, and the idea contained in it less clear.

But with regard to language, democratic nations prefer obscurity to labor.

I know not indeed whether this loose style has not some secret charm for those who speak and write amongst these nations.
As the men who live there are frequently left to the efforts of their individual powers of mind, they are almost always a prey to doubt; and as their situation in life is forever changing, they are never held fast to any of their opinions by the certain tenure of their fortunes.

Men living in democratic countries are, then, apt to entertain unsettled ideas, and they require loose expressions to convey them.