Nations, like individuals, cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity. Punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later.

In reading The History of Nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities, their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.

Tell me, ye wingèd winds That round my pathway roar, Know ye not some spot Where mortals weep no more?

An arrow may fly through the air and leave no trace; but an ill thought leaves a trail like a serpent.

But the sunshine aye shall light the sky, As round and round we run; And the truth shall ever come uppermost, And justice shall be done.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Every age has its peculiar folly: Some scheme, project, or fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the force of imitation.