Third World Man

[Robert Hettinga]

At 11:41 PM 8/20/95, Timothy C. May wrote:
>And it is, as those cases were, but predicting the imminent
>collapse of American civilization is usually a lose.

One of my favorite quotes is supposed to be from Gibbon's _Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire_ .  If I write a book about this stuff, it'll go right
on the frontispiece. Something like:

"It is quite attractive to posit the end of the world in one's analysis of
current affairs, but historically, it hasn't proven to be correct."

BTW, I've been looking for the exact quote for about 6 months, without
having reread the whole damn book.  If anyone who has actually *seen* an
on-line copy of Gibbon would send me pointer to it, I would be much
obliged. I have looked in all the usual places (Gutenberg, etc.) to no
avail...

Cheers,
Bob Hettinga

-----------------
Robert Hettinga (rah at shipwright.com)
Shipwright Development Corporation, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131
USA (617) 323-7923
"Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell
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