“The dark cloud, which had been cleared by the Phoenician discoveries, and finally dispelled by the arms of Caesar, again settled on the shores of the Atlantic, and a Roman province [Britain] was again lost among the fabulous Islands of the Ocean.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“Of human life, the most glorious or humble prospects are alike and soon bounded by the sepulchre.”
Source: The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812
“But a wild democracy . . . too often disdains the essential principles of justice.”
“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.”
Source: The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The progress of despotism tends to disappoint its own purpose.”
“The difference of language, dress, and manners . . . severs and alienates the nations of the globe.”
Source: The Crusades: A.D. 1095-1261
“Passion, interest, or caprice, suggested daily motives for the dissolution of marriage; a word, a sign, a message, a letter, the mandate of a freedman, declared the separation; the most tender of human connections was degraded to a transient society of profit or pleasure.”
Source: EDWARD GIBBON Premium Collection: Historiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters: Including
“[The] liberty of divorce does not contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame every trifling dispute . . .”
Source: The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, with notes by Milman and Guizot. Ed. by W. Smith
“The active, insatiate principle of self-love can alone supply the arts of life and the wages of industry; and as soon as civil government and exclusive property have been introduced, they become necessary to the existence of the human race.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)
“In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill . . .”
Source: The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“Genius may anticipate the season of maturity; but in the education of a people, as in that of an individual, memory must be exercised, before the powers of reason and fancy can be expanded: nor may the artist hope to equal or surpass, till he has learned to imitate, the works of his predecessors.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“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.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with a repetition of those calamities, which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The land was then covered with morasses and forests, which spread to a boundless extent, whenever man has ceased to exercise his dominion over the earth.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“Europe is secure from any future irruptions of Barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“Recluse fanatics have few ideas or sentiments to communicate . . .”
Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
“Whenever the spirit of fanaticism, at once so credulous and so crafty, has insinuated itself into a noble mind, it insensibly corrodes the vital principles of virtue and veracity.”
Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:
“The sentiment of fear is nearly allied to that of hatred.”
Source: The Crusades: A.D. 1095-1261
“Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The fortune of nations has often depended on accidents . . .”
Source: Guizot's Gibbon: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people [of Armorica], was incompatible either with freedom or servitude.”
“The love of freedom, so often invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among the licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire of impunity.”
Source: Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)
“The Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The aspiring efforts of genius, or virtue, either in active or speculative life, are measured, not so much by their real elevation, as by the height to which they ascend above the level of their age and country; and the same stature, which in a people of giants would pass unnoticed, must appear conspicuous in a race of pygmies.”
Source: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages
“But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burdens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery [gunpowder] with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.”
“Boethius might have been styled happy, if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the last term of the life of man.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“According to the faith and mercy of his Christian enemies, [Chosroes] sunk without hope into a still deeper abyss [Hell]; and it will not be denied, that tyrants of every age and sect are the best entitled to such infernal abodes.”
“The revolution of ages may bring round the same calamities; but ages may revolve without producing a Tacitus to describe them.”
Source: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages
“From the paths of blood (and such is the history of nations) I cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science or virtue.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“It was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honor and independence.”
Source: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages
“The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language . . .”
Source: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V 5: the History Focus
“It is impossible to reduce, or, at least, to hold a distant country against the wishes and efforts of its inhabitants.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“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.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“[The Goths'] poverty was incurable; since the most liberal donatives were soon dissipated in wasteful luxury, and the most fertile estates became barren in their hands.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“Language is the leading principle which unites or separates the tribes of mankind.”
Source: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLIINE AND FALL OF THE EMPIRE
“Greek is doubtless the most perfect [language] that has been contrived by the art of man.”
“Greek is a musical and prolific language, that gives a soul to the objects of sense, and a body to the abstractions of philosophy.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“[The] operation of the wisest laws is imperfect and precarious. They seldom inspire virtue, they cannot always restrain vice.”
Source: Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private interest.”
Source: The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“[It] is the interest as well as duty of a sovereign to maintain the authority of the laws.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“A Locrian, who proposed any new law, stood forth in the assembly of the people with a cord round his neck, and if the law was rejected, the innovator was instantly strangled.”
Source: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition
“A jurisdiction thus vague and arbitrary was exposed to the most dangerous abuse: the substance, as well as the form, of justice were often sacrificed to the prejudices of virtue, the bias of laudable affection, and the grosser seductions of interest or resentment.”
Source: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V4: the History Focus
“The science of the laws is the slow growth of time and experience.”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“The books of jurisprudence were interesting to few, and entertaining to none: their value was connected with present use, and they sunk forever as soon as that use was superseded by the innovations of fashion, superior merit, or public authority.”
Source: The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812
“A sentence of death and infamy was often founded on the slight and suspicious evidence of a child or a servant: the guilt [of the defendant] was presumed by the judges [due to the nature of the charge], and paederasty became the crime of those to whom no crime could be imputed.”
“[The] discretion of the judge is the first engine of tyranny . . .”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
“But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times . . .”
Source: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
