Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Why do we say "From the sublime to the ridiculous"?

Well-Known Expressions

From the sublime to the ridiculous

Meaning:

Great undertakings may end in disaster

Background:

The proverb originates from the French expression: Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas.
Although sometimes attributed to the French diplomat Tallyrand (1754-1838) or Napoleon, the expression is used much earlier by French historian Jean Francois Marmontel (1723-99) and later by Thomas Paine in The Age of Reason (1793).

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    by Lynda Cohen Loigman
    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

They say that in the end truth will triumph, but it's a lie.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.