| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 5157 |
| QUOTATION: | History is strewn with the wrecks of nations which have gained a little progressiveness at the cost of a great deal of hard manliness, and have thus prepared themselves for destruction as soon as the the movements of the world gave a chance for it. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Walter Bagehot (1826–1877), British economist, critic. Physics and Politics, ch. 2, sct. 2 (1872). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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