1790s, The Age of Reason, Part II (1795), The Old Testament
Source: 1790s, The Age of Reason, Part II (1795), Chapter I: The Old Testament; this may be the origin of Napoleon's celebrated mot, Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas (From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but one step).
Context: The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.
“From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.”
Speaking about troubles in the invasions of Russia (10 December 1812), as recorded by Abbé du Pradt, and quoted in History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, Vol. 3 (1842) by Sir Archibald Alison, p. 593
Variant translations:
There is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
There is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
“Do not fear being ridiculous in relation to the ridiculous.”
Diary of an Unknown (1988)
Source: Far from the Madding Crowd
“I make technology ridiculous.”
Leigh Landy, Antje von Graevenitz. " 'I MAKE TECHNOLOGY RIDICULOUS' — THE UNUSUAL DIALECTICS OF NAM JUNE PAIK," in: Leigh Landy (ed.) 1992. Technik, p. 79
1970s
“Insight makes argument ridiculous.”
Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 201
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), Conclusion : Don Quixote in the Contemporary European Tragi-Comedy
“To make a happy fireside clime
To weans and wife,—
That is the true pathos and sublime
Of human life.”
Epistle to Dr. Blacklock.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
