Edward Gibbon quotes - page 2

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular. (Edward Gibbon)
In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Antoninus diffused order and tranquility over the greatest part of the earth. His reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. View quote
Edward Gibbon
It was here [at the age of seventeen] that I suspended my religious inquiries. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Of London Crowds without company, dissipation without pleasure. View quote
Edward Gibbon
I saw and loved. View quote
Edward Gibbon
As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. View quote
Edward Gibbon
In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself. View quote
Edward Gibbon
I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes. View quote
Edward Gibbon
The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction. (Edward Gibbon)
Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Style is the image of character. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition. View quote
Edward Gibbon
War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice. View quote
Edward Gibbon
The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. View quote
Edward Gibbon
To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor. View quote
Edward Gibbon
But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous. View quote
Edward Gibbon
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule. View quote
Edward Gibbon
The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events. (Edward Gibbon)
It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work. View quote
Edward Gibbon
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature. View quote
Edward Gibbon
I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being. View quote
Edward Gibbon
My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language. View quote
Edward Gibbon