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Edward Gibbon QUOTES

Edward Gibbon QUOTES

1 " Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself. "

― Edward Gibbon

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

― Edward Gibbon

3 " War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice. "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

4 " My early and invincible love of reading--I would not exchange for the treasures of India. "

― Edward Gibbon

5 " Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless. "

― Edward Gibbon

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

― Edward Gibbon

7 " The obvious definition of a monarchy seems to be that of a state, in which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, is entrusted with the execution of the laws, the management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of so formidable a magistrate will soon degenerate into despotism. The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring prince. "

― Edward Gibbon , The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I

8 " 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. "

― Edward Gibbon , The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I

9 " If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons had been interrupted, the superstitious Pagans were convinced that the crimes and the impiety of the Christians, who were spared by the excessive lenity of the government, had at length provoked the divine justice. "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

10 " The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow-citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and to slavery, renders them very unfit guardians of a legal, or even a civil constitution. "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

11 " Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation, that the senate and the people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedoms. "

― Edward Gibbon , The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I

12 " It was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline that good soldier should dread his own officers far more than the enemy "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

13 " Fear has been the original parent of superstition, every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of invisible enemies "

― Edward Gibbon

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

― Edward Gibbon

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

― Edward Gibbon

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

― Edward Gibbon

17 " Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. "

― Edward Gibbon

18 " 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. "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

19 " 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 , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

20 " Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive. "

― Edward Gibbon , The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire