Several times in Book of Mormon history the people passed through a cycle of righteousness, prosperity, riches, pride, wickedness, destruction, humility, and righteousness again. For more information and a diagram depicting the pride cycle, refer to “The Cycle of Righteousness and Wickedness” in the appendix (page 414).
Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles lamented mankind’s failure to break out of negative cycles: “I guess one of the greatest mysteries of mortality is why mankind fails to learn from history” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1992, 19; or Ensign, Nov. 1992, 16). Surely the Lord has placed these obvious patterns of behavior in scripture for our benefit, to help us avoid the same problems in our own lives (see D&C 52:14–19).