Quote#Time
The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand…
Quote byCharles Mackay · 1814–1889
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841).
English (original)
The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas, each of four lines, and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of old. They take so great a latitude, both as to time and space, that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries.
— Charles Mackay
More from Charles Mackay
During seasons of great pestilence, men have often believed the prophecies of crazed fanatics, that the end of the world was come.
Of all the nations in the world the French are the most renowned for singing over their grievances. Of that country it has been remarked with some truth, that its whole history may be traced in its songs.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor; He, who has mingled in the fray Of duty that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have done,
Every age has its peculiar folly; some scheme, project, or phantasy into which it plunges, spurred on either by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the mere force of imitation. Failing in these, it has some madness, to which …
Nations, like individuals, cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity. Punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later.