W. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (1893, 1925)
“From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.”
Speech to his troops in Egypt (21 July 1798) Variant translation: "Soldiers, from the summit of yonder pyramids forty centuries look down upon you...". Published in the autobiography of French general Eugène de Beauharnais.
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Napoleon I of France 259
French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French 1769–1821Related quotes
“I look down from my height on nations
And they become ashes before me.”
"Carric", quoted in Thoreau, "Life Without Principle"
The Poems of Ossian
“But he has no fear; unconquered he looks down from a lofty height upon his sufferings.”
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXXV: On Some Vain Syllogisms
Footnote: It probably could not fall down if it tried.
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part I: It Seems There Were Two Egyptians, Cheops, or Khufu
The Quotable Sir John
“The pyramids of Giza were as old to the ancient Romans, as the ancient Romans are to us.”
"Our Narrow Slice", Vsauce (8 October 2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNLdblFQqsw