WIST Quotations

Mackay, Charles -- Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The South-Sea Bubble” (1841)

Dave — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:37:57 +0000

Nations, like individuals, cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity. Punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later.

Charles Mackay (1814-1889) Scottish poet, journalist, song writer
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, “The South-Sea Bubble” (1841)
(Source)

Durant, William James -- The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)

Dave — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:11:34 +0000

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.

William James (Will) Durant (1885-1981) American historian, teacher, philosopher
The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3: Caesar and Christ (1944)
(Source)

Napoleon Bonaparte -- Comment to the Abbé du Pradt (10 Dec 1812)

Dave — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 12:51:15 +0000

From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader
Comment to the Abbé du Pradt (10 Dec 1812)
(Source)

During the retreat from Moscow, a repeated comment during a discussion with one of his ambassadors. Quoted by Archibald Alison, History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, Vol. 16, ch. 73 (1842). See also Paine.

Alt. trans.:

"There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
"There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous."
"From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step."