The expression «From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step» went down in history thanks to Napoleon, although it originated before him and goes back to the «Dialogues of the Dead» by B. de Fontenelle. The article examines the testimonies of contemporaries about a conversation in Warsaw (December 1812), in which Napoleon uttered this phrase and its various initial versions.
Keywords
оrigin of familiar phrases; The Patriotic War of 1812; Napoleon I; B. de Fontenelle; D. de Pradt; E. Tarle; M.I. Kutuzov; A. Kotzebue.