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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

« Les Ruines de Volney », chapitre 11, traduit par Thomas Jefferson : « Et les despotes, considérant les empires comme leurs domaines privés, se livrèrent à des déprédations et à toutes les débauches propres à l’autorité la plus arbitraire. »

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

Volney’s Ruins, chapter 11, translated by Thomas Jefferson: “And despots, considering empires as their private domains, gave themselves up to depredations, and to all the licentiousness of the most arbitrary authority.”

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

« Les Ruines de Volney », chapitre 13, traduit par Thomas Jefferson: «Qui pourra jamais freiner la soif de richesse des forts et des puissants ? Qui pourra éclairer l’ignorance des faibles? Qui pourra enseigner au peuple à connaître ses droits et contraindre ses dirigeants à remplir leurs devoirs ?»

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

Volney’s Ruins, chapter 13, translated by Thomas Jefferson: “Who will ever be able to restrain the lust of wealth in the strong and powerful? Who can enlighten the ignorance of the weak? Who can teach the multitude to know their rights and force their chiefs to perform their duties?”

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

Découvrez « Les Ruines » de Volney, traduites par Thomas Jefferson, chapitre 12 : « Les leçons du passé se répètent dans le présent ». Volney y décrit une guerre entre le tsar et une bande de pirates islamiques dans la région de Crimée. Il en retrace les origines et prédit la chute de Poutine…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

Check out Volney’s Ruins translated by Thomas Jefferson, Chapter 12: Lessons of the Past Repeated in the Present. Volney describes a war between the Czar and a band of Islamic pirates in the Crimea region. Volney traces the origin of the war and in effect predicts the destitution of Putin…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 22h

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Avant de devenir célèbre, Honoré de Balzac était propriétaire d'une imprimerie. En 1827, l'imprimerie de Balzac a imprimé un exemplaire de *Les Ruines* de Volney, alors même que cet ouvrage était interdit sous la Restauration. Pourquoi le roi craignait-il tant le livre de Volney ? #bannedbookweek

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Before he became famous as a writer, Honore de Balzac owned a printing company. In 1827, Balzac’s company printed a copy of Volney’s Ruins, even though the book was banned during the Restoration. Why did the King fear Volney’s book so much? #bannedbookweek

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thomas Jefferson a traduit l'ouvrage *Les Ruines* de Volney parce qu'il souhaitait que le public américain comprenne les principes issus des Lumières sur lesquels reposait le gouvernement des États-Unis. Mais le livre de Volney a été interdit en France pendant la Restauration. #bannedbookweek

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thomas Jefferson translated Volney’s Ruins because he wanted the American public to understand the Enlightenment-based principles upon which the United States government was founded. But Volney’s book was banned in France during the Restoration. #bannedbookweek

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

“Sometimes a nation, weary of its dissensions, submitted to a single master. Observing these dissensions, the master provoked even more: he sowed divisions and hatreds, creating his strength out of their weaknesses.” Chapter 11, Volney’s Ruins, translated by Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Which Christianity? Catholic? Protestant? Evangelical? And whose interpretation of each one of those? Most of all, do the interpreters perfectly practice the interpretation they are foisting on everyone else?

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Why do empires rise and fall? Is there a single general principle that explains that process? Yes! Volney’s Ruins of Empires (1791) presents a single general principle that applies to all nations, all cultures, all centuries. Unfortunately the book has never been translated into Chinese…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

How about a book that transcends the traditional left-right political debate? Check out Volney’s Ruins of Empires (1791), translated by Thomas Jefferson (1802). Based on Natural Law, Volney’s book shows why empires rise and fall. As bonus, it also provides a solution to religious conflicts.

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

For this exact reason, Thomas Jefferson anonymously translated Volney’s Ruins of Empires: to show the American people the Enlightenment principles upon which the Constitution was founded. Washington & Lincoln read the book, but they never knew Jefferson had translated it…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

I don’t need Marx. He invented the theory that refuses to recognize the morality of private property. Why is private property moral? Because our bodies are private property. That’s why slavery was wrong. That’s why Communism always fails. It’s a law of nature: our bodies are private property

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

The U.S. is in a religious war. Everyone knows this. But no one says it. Yet none of the chiefs of the major religions are offering solutions, except to say: “We are right. You are wrong. We speak for god. You do not.” Perhaps it is time to consider Thomas Jefferson’s translation of Volney’s Ruins..

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

How about a peace proposal inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s anonymous translation of Volney’s Ruins of Empires (see ch 24): All the chiefs of all the world’s religions stand together on live TV in Jerusalem and say: “We are all guilty. No one is innocent. Let’s make peace on that basis.”

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Read the General Assembly of Nations section of Volney’s Ruins translated by Thomas Jefferson (chapters 21-24). It argues for separation of church and state. Chapter 24 reveals specific arguments to use…good luck America!

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

🔮 Volney’s Horoscope: I predict not many French officials will attend this year’s 4th of July celebration at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Paris…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

All this in the article is true. But with every revolution there is always a counter-revolution. In the future, social media will become unpopular, people will avoid AI-generated products, screens will be replaced by books. Of course, if I am wrong…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Good to see others writing about Volney! Currently reading Volney (1757-1820) philosophynow.org/issues/165/V... @philosophynow.bsky.social

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Anyone in the U.S. government thinking about the demand-side of the drug equation? Why are so many Americans hooked on drugs? Are they bored with their lives? Too much TV? Too much junk food? Too much of everything?

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

In the desert southwest about a thousand years ago, two brothers fight for control of an ancient holy city wracked by drought, famine and disbelief...Kash Kachu (White House)...a fictionalized account of the collapse of the civilization at Chaco Canyon NM #xmasgift www.amazon.com/author/thoma...

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

05 December 2025: Major Lunar Standstill alignment with rue Lorraine, Saint Germain en Laye, France

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Hier soir, nous avons assisté au dernier grand arrêt lunaire avant 2043. Aujourd'hui, nous comprenons pourquoi ce phénomène se produit. Mais il y a 1000 ans, à Chaco Canyon (Nouveau-Mexique), un groupe de seigneurs rapaces utilisait sa connaissance de la lune pour maintenir son peuple enchaîné...

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Last night we experienced the last major lunar standstill until 2043. Today we understand why this phenomenon occurs. But 1000 years ago, in Chaco Canyon (New Mexico), a group of rapacious lords used their knowledge of the moon to keep their people in chains…#chaco www.amazon.com/author/thoma...

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Fun Fact: “Ideology” was, originally, nothing but the study of ideas. How do we conceive, test, accept or reject ideas. The ideologues were post-Enlightenment philosophers. They all corresponded with Thomas Jefferson. Napoleon didn’t like them so he started using the word as a pejorative….1/2

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Yes it looks pretty bad: the U.S. now has a king, a queen, a national religion and a thought police. Those forces never really disappeared in other countries. They’ve just been laying low, hibernating like a bear, waiting for the right moment to reawaken. That moment is now…

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

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Thomas Christian Williams, novelist & screenwriter @ruinsofempires.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Chapter 10, Volney’s Ruins of Empires, translated by Thomas Jefferson: “Thus ancient states prospered because their citizens, enjoying liberty and security for their persons and their property, might enjoy the use of all their faculties, all the energies of their enlightened self-interest.”