Wants...........................

     Although the desire of acquiring the good things of this world is the prevailing passion of the American people, certain momentary outbreaks occur when their souls seem suddenly to burst the bonds of matter by which they are restrained and to soar impetuously towards heaven. ... 
     Here and there in the midst of American society you meet with men full of a fanatical and almost wild spiritualism which hardly exists in Europe.  From time to time strange sects arise which endeavor to strike out extraordinary paths to eternal happiness.  Religious insanity is very common in the United States. ...
     The soul has wants which must be satisfied; and whatever pains are taken to divert it from itself, it soon grows weary, restless, and disquieted amid the enjoyments of sense.

-Alexis de Tocqueville,  Democracy In America,  Volume II, Chapter XII, 1840