Charles Mackay Quote

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.

Charles Mackay

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.

Tags: hysteria, madness

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About Charles Mackay

Charles (or Charlie) Mackay, McKay, or MacKay may refer to:

Charles Mackay (author) (1814–1889), Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter
Charles McKay (1855–1883), American naturalist and explorer
Charles Mackay (mayor) (1875–1929), New Zealand lawyer, local politician, and Mayor of Wanganui
Charlie MacKay (1880–1953), Australian rules footballer and physician
Charles Reay Mackay, Australian immunologist, fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
Charles R. MacKay, pseudonym for William Harral Johnson and William Stewart Ross used on Life of Charles Bradlaugh, M.P. (1888), a libelous attack on Charles Bradlaugh
Charles MacKay (born 1950), American arts administrator