36 Quotes by Edward Gibbon
- Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
- 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.
- 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.
- I was never less alone than when by myself.
- I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
- A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
- History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
- Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.
- 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.
- Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.
- Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
- But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
- Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
- Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
- All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
- Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.
- The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.
- We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.
- Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
- Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.
- The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
- 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 style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.
- The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.
- My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India.
- The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
- My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.
- The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.
- 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.
- Style is the image of character.
- Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
- Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.
- 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.
- The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.
- I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.
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