Nothing is sudden in nature: whereas the slightest storms are forecasted several days in advance, the destruction of the world must have been announced several years beforehand by heat waves, by winds, by meteorites, in short, by an infinity of phenomena.

L'Antiquité dévoilée par ses usages ou Examen critique des principales Opinions, Cérémonies & Institutions religieuses & politiques des différens Peuples de la Terre (1766)