For if once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination. Once begin upon this downward path, you never know where to stop. Many a man has dated his ruin from some murder or other that perhaps he thought little of the time.
Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) English writer, essayist, literary critic
Essay (1839-11), “Second Paper on Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts,” Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 46, No. 289
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downward spiral
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Things are not getting worse; things have always been this bad. Nothing is more consoling than the long perspective of history. It will perk you up no end to go back and read the works of progressives past. You will learn therein that things back then were also terrible, and what’s more, they were always getting worse. This is most inspiriting.
