This whole theory [of John Law and Jean Terrasson], as dear to French financial schemers in the eighteenth century as to American "Greenbackers" in the nineteenth, had resulted, under the Orleans Regency and Louis XV, in ruin to France financially and morally, had culminated in the utter destruction of all prosperity, the rooting out of great numbers of the most important industries, and the grinding down of the working people even to starvation." - Meaning and context.">
p. 169-170
“

This whole theory [of John Law and Jean Terrasson], as dear to French financial schemers in the eighteenth century as to American "Greenbackers" in the nineteenth, had resulted, under the Orleans Regency and Louis XV, in ruin to France financially and morally, had culminated in the utter destruction of all prosperity, the rooting out of great numbers of the most important industries, and the grinding down of the working people even to starvation.

— Andrew Dickson White

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "This whole theory [of John Law and Jean Terrasson], as dear to French financial schemers in the eighteenth century as to American "Greenbackers" in the nineteenth, had resulted, under the Orleans Regency and Louis XV, in ruin to France financially and morally, had culminated in the utter destruction of all prosperity, the rooting out of great numbers of the most important industries, and the grinding down of the working people even to starvation." in the context of "p. 169-170" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Andrew Dickson White" (Quotes, Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason (1915): Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Andrew Dickson White

About Andrew Dickson White

Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American diplomat, author, and educator who was the co-founder and first president of Cornell University.