“Empires dissolve and peoples disappear,
Song passes not away.”

— William Watson (poet)

Lacrymae Musarum, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

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William Watson (poet) 12

English poet, born 1858 1858–1935

Edmund Cooper (1926–1982) British writer

The Overman Culture (1971)

“The day of small nations has passed away; the day of Empires has come.”

Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman

Speech at Birmingham, May 13, 1904.
1900s

“But Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be exposed.”

Saint Peter (-1–67 BC) apostle and first pope

2 Peter 3:10 http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/2-peter/3/, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
Second Epistle of Peter

“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

From a letter to John Taylor (June 1798), after the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts
1790s
Context: A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake.