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Like the Roman Empire in the early fifth century, Europe has allowed its defenses to crumble. As its wealth has grown, so its military prowess has shrunk, along with its self-belief. It has grown decadent in its shopping malls and sports stadiums. At the same time, it has opened its gates to outsiders who have coveted its wealth without renouncing their ancestral faith.

— Niall Ferguson

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More quotes by Niall Ferguson

Economic history is not politically correct. Many on the left therefore struggle with its findings.

Even small numbers of evangelical missionaries can achieve a good deal, furnished as they are with substantial funds from congregations at home.

Colossus: the Price of America’s Empire. Penguin (2004)

For better, for worse – fair and foul – the world we know today is in large measure the product of Britain’s age of Empire.

Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (2003)

The financial crisis is really a relatively small historic phenomenon, which has accelerated this huge shift, which ends half a millennium of Western ascendancy.

The West may collapse very suddenly. Complex civilizations do that, because they operate, most of the time, on the edge of chaos.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Niall Ferguson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.