Edward Gibbon Quotes About History

Quotes about: History

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

  Edward Gibbon

  War, History, Tourism

  'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' (1776-88) ch. 3.

• 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

  Rome, People, History

  The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ch. 2 (1776 - 1788)

• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Men, Names, Race

  1776-88 The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch.3.

• The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.

  Edward Gibbon

  Errors, Race, Long

  Edward Gibbon (2009). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition”, p.237, Modern Library

• Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation.

  Edward Gibbon

  Art, History, Might

  Edward Gibbon (1998). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.100, Wordsworth Editions

• The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appearance and produce the effects of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius.

  Edward Gibbon

  Government, History, Enemy

  Edward Gibbon (2009). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition”, p.563, Modern Library

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

  Edward Gibbon

  Government, History, British Monarchy

  Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.197

• The Germans, in the age of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters; and the use of letters is the principal circumstance that distinguishes a civilised people from a herd of savages incapable of knowledge or reflection. Without that artificial help, the human memory soon dissipates or corrupts the ideas intrusted to her charge; and the nobler faculties of the mind, no longer supplied with models or with materials, gradually forget their powers; the judgment becomes feeble and lethargic, the imagination languid or irregular.

  Edward Gibbon

  Memories, Reflection, Ideas

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.354

• But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the hand of Omnipotence, not to their reason, but to their senses? During the age of Christ, of his apostles, and their first disciples, the doctrine which they preached was confirmed by innumerable prodigies. The lame walked, the blind saw, the sick were healed, the dead were raised, daemons were expelled, and the laws of Nature were frequently suspended for the benefit of the church.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hands, Law, Omnipotence

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.84

• Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative.

  Edward Gibbon

  History, Naked, Narrative

  Edward Gibbon (1862). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.2

• As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.

  Edward Gibbon

  Military, War, Character

  Edward Gibbon (1781). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.8

• The voice of history is often little more than the organ of hatred or flattery.

  Edward Gibbon

  Voice, History, Hatred

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V1: the History Focus”, p.208, 谷月社

• The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest and humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their force was suited rather for opposition than for action. They were instituted to defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by a single word, the whole machine of government.

  Edward Gibbon

  Humble, Character, Government

  Edward Gibbon (2016). “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”, p.106, e-artnow

• The subject, however various and important, has already been so frequently, so ably, and so successfully discussed, that it is now grown familiar to the reader, and difficult to the writer.

  Edward Gibbon

  History, Important, Difficult

  Edward Gibbon (1871). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.250

• Such, indeed, is the policy of civil war: severely to remember injuries, and to forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.

  Edward Gibbon

  Gratitude, Revenge, War

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.19

• The love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It often leads to anger, to ambition, and to revenge; but when it is guided by the sense of propriety and benevolence, it becomes the parent of every virtue, and, if those virtues are accompanied with equal abilities, a family, a state, or an empire may be indebted for their safety and prosperity to the undaunted courage of a single man.

  Edward Gibbon

  Revenge, Ambition, Men

  Edward Gibbon (1846). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.488

• We stand in need of such reflections to comfort us for the loss of some illustrious characters, which in our eyes might have seemed the most worthy of the heavenly present. The names of Seneca, of the elder and the younger Pliny, of Tacitus, of Plutarch, of Galen, of the slave Epictetus, and of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, adorn the age in which they flourished, and exalt the dignity of human natures.

  Edward Gibbon

  Character, Eye, Loss

  Edward Gibbon (2016). “EDWARD GIBBON Premium Collection: Historiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters: Including "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.583, e-artnow

• The frequent repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does not subdue, the reason of mankind.

  Edward Gibbon

  History, Miracle, Doe

  Edward Gibbon (1875). “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.263

• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Order, Punishment, Government

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)”, p.908, Delphi Classics

• During the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly, performed the manumission of a slave in the presence of the consul. The moment he was reminded that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction of another magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold, and embraced this public occasion of declaring to the world that he was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, to the laws, and even to the forms, of the republic.

  Edward Gibbon

  Law, Games, History

  Edward Gibbon, J. B. Bury (2012). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edited in Seven Volumes with Introduction, Notes, Appendices, and Index”, p.427, Cambridge University Press

• Instead of pressing, with the foremost of the crowd, into the palace of Constantinople, Libanius calmly expected his arrival at Antioch; withdrew from court on the first symptoms of coldness and indifference; required a formal invitation for each visit; and taught his sovereign an important lesson, that he might command the obedience of a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment of a friend.

  Edward Gibbon

  Attachment, History, Important

  Edward Gibbon, William George Smith (1857). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.175

• The mixture of Sarmatic and German blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani, to whiten their swarthy complexions, and to tinge their hair with a yellowish cast, which is seldom found in the Tartar race.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hair, Race, Blood

  Edward Gibbon, J. B. Bury (2012). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edited in Seven Volumes with Introduction, Notes, Appendices, and Index”, p.90, Cambridge University Press

• The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise without difficulty and without reluctance; and posterity will confess that the character of Theodosius might furnish the subject of a sincere and ample panegyric. The wisdom of his laws and the success of his arms rendered his administration respectable in the eyes both of his subjects and of his enemies. He loved and practised the virtues of domestic life, which seldom hold their residence in the palaces of kings.

  Edward Gibbon

  Kings, Eye, Character

  Edward Gibbon (2000). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.47, Modern Library

• Yet the people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny.

  Edward Gibbon

  Gratitude, War, People

  Edward Gibbon (2009). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition”, p.552, Modern Library

• In less than seven years the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated, and the city appeared to resume its former splendour and tranquillity. The venerable matron replaced her crown of laurel, which had been ruffled by the storms of war, and was still amused in the last moment of her decay with the prophecies of revenge, of victory, and of eternal dominion.

  Edward Gibbon

  Revenge, War, Years

  Edward Gibbon (2008). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.338, Cosimo, Inc.

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