Good find but.it seems that this sentence might be even older. However, the link to Napoleons is still relevant...
Check this:

Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs:

From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step

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In this form, from a remark made by Napoleon to the Polish ambassador De Pradt (D. G. De Pradt Histoire de l'Ambassade‥(1815) 215), following the retreat from Moscow in 1812: Du sublime au ridicule il n'y a qu'un pas, there is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. The idea, however, was not original to Napoleon: [1795 T. Paine Age of Reason II. 20] The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime, makes the ridiculous; and one step above the ridiculous, makes the sublime again.

The Hague tittle-tattle‥is set forth in the pomp of Milton's loftiest Latin. ‥The sublime and the ridiculous are here blended without the step between.
[1879 M. Pattison Milton 116]
In the case of Louis XVIII, indeed, the ridiculous was, as it is commonly said to be, only a step removed from the sublime.
[1909 Times Literary Supplement 17 Dec. 492]
From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step, but there's no road that leads back from the ridiculous to the sublime.
[1940 W. & E. Muir tr. L. Feuchtwanger's Paris Gazette ii. xxxviii.]
‘At least,’ he said, ‘we can now go next door. Architecturally speaking, it's to move from the sublime to the ridiculous.’
[1983 ‘M. Innes’ Appleby & Honeybath iii.]

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/from-the-sublime-to-the-ridiculous#ixzz2IO9rasAM
-----Mensagem Original-----
De: Nabokv-L
Para: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Enviada em: sexta-feira, 18 de janeiro de 2013 23:06
Assunto: [NABOKV-L] [Fwd: Re: [NABOKV-L] Centaur in Ada]


Subject:
Re: [NABOKV-L] Centaur in Ada
From:
Barrie Akin <ba@taxbar.com>
Date:
Thu, 17 Jan 2013 09:51:27 +0000
To:
"nabokv-l@listserv.ucsb.edu" <nabokv-l@listserv.ucsb.edu>

Isn't the original saying ("du sublime ... pas") attributed to Napoleon - and related to Moscow - no doubt giving it some resonance for Russians?

Barrie Akin 


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Centaur in Ada
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:22:00 +0000
From: stan@bootle.biz <stan@BOOTLE.BIZ>
Reply-To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>


Jansy/Alexey:

“From the sublime to the ridiculous” (or in Fritz Spiegl’s “mock-Cockney” version, “From the sublime to the COR-BLIMEY”) is NOT strictly a PROVERB. You need to identify the two entities being compared before you can claim to be waxing proverbially! In Fritz’s case, it was his reaction when I showed him a computerised catalogue where Mozart’s Don Giovanni had been abbreviated to MOZDONG. (The punched-card field allocated only 7 columns to “title!”). [. . .]
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All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.