Quotessence
Home / Books / The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Book by Edward Gibbon · 29 quotes · Roman Empire, History, May

Filter quotes by topic

AllRoman EmpireHistoryMayLawAgeHumansVirtueMindReasonFirstsIfsMenMightEmpiresHas BeensMankindSubjectsWarYearsBarbarians

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Quotes

“The desire of perfection became the ruling passion of their soul; and it is well known, that while reason embraces a cold mediocrity, our passions hurry us, with rapid violence, over the space which lies between the most opposite extremes.”

WellsSoulReasonLyingDesirePassionSpaceKnownViolenceColdPerfectionOppositesEmbraceExtremesMediocrityWell KnownRulingRapidsRuling Passion
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal than the deep, and perhaps indelible, mark, which a servitude of two hundred years has imprinted on the character of the Russians.”

YearsTwoCharacterModernHundredMarkAncientRuinsTemporaryAshesServitudeMoscowIndelibleKiev
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors, that, whatever might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A life of pleasure or virtue, of severity or mildness, of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave; and almost every reign is closed by the same disgusting repetition of treason and murder.”

MightPleasureVirtueFateConditionsGloryMurderGravesUnhappyDisgustingReignRepetitionEmperorTreasonIndolenceSeverityMildnessRoman Emperor
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“It was [Totila's] constant theme, that national vice and ruin are inseparably connected; that victory is the fruit of moral as well as military virtue; and that the prince, and even the people, are responsible for the crimes which they neglect to punish.”

PeopleWellsMoralVirtueMilitaryCrimeVictoryResponsibleConstantFruitVicesConnectedRuinsThemeNeglect
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world, admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the reality of that infernal art [witchcraft], which was able to control the eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the human mind. . . . They believed, with the wildest inconsistency, that this preternatural dominion of the air, of earth, and of hell, was exercised, from the vilest motives of malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags and itinerant sorcerers, who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt.”

WorldMindHumansArtRealityAbleEarthOrderNationsHellAirPlanetsEqualEternalGainsOperationsMotiveHuman MindContemptObscureMaliceWitchcraftDominionSectsCredulityInconsistencyAbhorrence
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“The value of money has been settled by general consent to express our wants and our property, as letters were invented to express our ideas; and both these institutions, by giving a more active energy to the powers and passions of human nature, have contributed to multiply the objects they were designed to represent.”

WantGivingHumansHas BeensIdeasValuesPassionEnergyHistoryHuman NatureObjectsLettersInstitutionsPropertyActiveConsentRoman EmpireValue Of Money
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image