Top 359 Quotes & Sayings by Edward Gibbon

I was never less alone than when by myself.

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.

The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.

We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.

Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.

Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.

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.

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.

All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

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.

The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; none has so deeply meditated on the subject; none is so sincerely interested in the event.

Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.

My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India.

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.

Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.

The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.

But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.

The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.

Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.

Style is the image of character.

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.

In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.

Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.

A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the last extremes of injustice and oppression.

Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.

The primitive Christians perpetually trod on mystic ground, and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most extraordinary events

The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects.

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.

An extensive empire must be supported by a refined system of policy and oppression; in the centre, an absolute power, prompt in action and rich in resources; a swift and easy communication with the extreme parts; fortifications to check the first effort of rebellion; a regular administration to protect and punish; and a well-disciplined army to inspire fear, without provoking discontent and despair.

If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been executed without hesitation by the ministers of open violence or of specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop, discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government.

The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts of justice which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion and their eloquence for their own sufferings, when the provinces were invaded and desolated by the arms of the successful Barbarians.

There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times.

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus.

A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.

The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long.

There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition to their inclination and interest.

[Whole] generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in the space of a single hour.

'I believe in o­ne God and Mohammed the Apostle of God,' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.

[Courage] arises in a great measure from the consciousness of strength . . .

A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness.

So long as mankind shall continue to lavish more praise upon its destroyers than upon its benefactors war shall remain the chief pursuit of ambitious minds.

The best and most important part of every man's education is that which he gives himself.

In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy were guarded by ancient renown and disciplined valour. The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury.

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.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.

Among the innumerable monuments of architecture constructed by the Romans, how many have escaped the notice of history, how few have resisted the ravages of time and barbarism! And yet even the majestic ruins that are still scattered over Italy and the provinces, would be sufficient to prove that those countries were once the seat of a polite and powerful empire.