Source: The Golden Bough (1890), Chapter 29, The Myth of Adonis
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament
Vol. 1, Chap. 3. Compare: "L'histoire n'est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs" (translated: "History is but the record of crimes and misfortunes"), Voltaire, L'Ingénu, chap. x.
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)
C.G. Jung book Mysterium Coniunctionis
Mysterium Coniunctionis http://books.google.com/books?id=fqt-AAAAMAAJ&q=%22The+wise+man+who+is+not+heeded+is+counted+a+fool+and+the+fool+who+proclaims+the+general+folly+first+and+loudest+passes+for+a+prophet+and%22+%22and+sometimes+it+is+luckily+the+other+way+round+as+well+or+else+mankind+would+long+since+have+perished+of+stupidity%22&pg=PA549#v=onepage (1955)
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) English historian and Member of Parliament
Vol. 1, Ch. 3 "Of the Constitution of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines" http://www.ccel.org/ccel/gibbon/decline/files/volume1/chap3.htm <br class="br">This has often been paraphrased: History is indeed little more than the register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. <br class="br">The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire: Volume 1 (1776)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)
Graduation Exercises at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, U.S. (3 June 1947) http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/all_about_ike/quotes.html <br class="br">1940s <br class="br">Context: War is mankind's most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men. Though you follow the trade of the warrior, you do so in the spirit of Washington — not of Genghis Khan. For Americans, only threat to our way of life justifies resort to conflict.
David Hume book An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
§ 8.18
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
P. J. O'Rourke book Parliament of Whores
Parliament of Whores (1991)
Context: Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race. All through history mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would boss the grass in the meadows about which way to bend in the wind are the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity, perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us.
“If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture”
Oscar Wilde book The Decay of Lying
The Decay of Lying (1889)
Context: If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture... In a house, we all feel of the proper proportions. Everything is subordinated to us, fashioned for our use and our pleasure.
“Debt is the prolific mother of folly and of crime.”
Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister
Book 2, chapter 1.
Books, Coningsby (1844), Henrietta Temple (1837)
