Edward Gibbon Quotes - Page 14

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• The vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people [of Armorica], was incompatible either with freedom or servitude.

  Edward Gibbon

  People, Rebellious, Vain

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• 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

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• The archiepiscopal throne of Macedonius, which had been polluted with so much Christian blood, was successively filled by Eudoxus and Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed a free importation of vice and error from every province of the empire; the eager pursuit of religious controversy afforded a new occupation to the busy idleness of the metropolis: and we may credit the assertion of an intelligent observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the effects of their loquacious zeal.

  Edward Gibbon

  Christian, Religious, Intelligent

  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.21, Modern Library

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• Instructed by history and reflection, Julian was persuaded that, if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary violence, neither steel nor fire can eradicate the erroneous opinions of the mind.

  Edward Gibbon

  Reflection, Fire, History

  Edward Gibbon (1998). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.473, Wordsworth Editions

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• 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

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• [The] events by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, leave a faint impression on the page of history, and the patience of the reader would be exhausted by the repetition of the same hostilities [between Rome and Persia], undertaken without cause, prosecuted without glory, and terminated without effect.

  Edward Gibbon

  Fate, Rome, Events

  Edward Gibbon (2009). “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edited and Abridged): Abridged Edition”, p.800, Modern Library

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• On the approach of spring, I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.

  Edward Gibbon

  Spring, Crowds, April

  "Memoirs". Book by Edward Gibbon, Vol. i. p. 116, 1796.

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• I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.

  Edward Gibbon

  Love, Son, Lovers

  Memoirs of My Life ch. 4 (1796)

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• There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.

  Edward Gibbon

  Writing, Air, Castles

  Edward Gibbon (1869). “The Autobiography and Correspondence of Edward Gibbon, the Historian”, p.164

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• In old age the consolation of hope is reserved for the tenderness of parents, who commence a new life in their children, the faith of enthusiasts, who sing hallelujahs above the clouds; and the vanity of authors, who presume the immortality of their name and writings.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hope, Children, Writing

  Edward Gibbon (1827). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon, 1”, p.258

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• The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. 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. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.

  Edward Gibbon

  Religious, Reflection, People

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

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• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Learning, Judging, Criticism

  Edward Gibbon (1969). “Memoirs of My Life: Edited from the Manuscripts by Georges A. Bonnard”

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• [Personal] industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.

  Edward Gibbon

  Excited, Interest, Personal Interest

  Edward Gibbon (1998). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.740, Wordsworth Editions

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• My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

  Edward Gibbon

  Obscurity, Language, Obscenity

  Edward Gibbon (1900). “The Memoirs of the Life of Edward Gibbon with Various Observations and Excursions”

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• A false modesty is the meanest species of pride.

  Edward Gibbon

  Pride, Modesty, Species

  Edward Gibbon, John Baker Holroyd (1827). “Memoires of the Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon, Esq”, p.85

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• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Ambition, Order, Desire

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)”, p.1719, Delphi Classics

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• History, in fact, is no more than a list of the crimes of humanity, human follies and accidents

  Edward Gibbon

  Historical, Humanity, Lists

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• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Passion, Ideas, History

  Edward Gibbon (1781). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.317

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• Philosophy alone can boast (and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy), that her gentle hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the latent and deadly principle of fanaticism.

  Edward Gibbon

  Philosophy, Hands, History

  Edward Gibbon (1837). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.376

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• 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

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• But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral of physical government of the world.

  Edward Gibbon

  Government, Rome, History

  Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “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”, p.429, Modern Library

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• A taste for books, which is still the pleasure and glory of my life.

  Edward Gibbon

  Book, Taste, Glory

  Edward Gibbon (1869). “The Autobiography and Correspondence of Edward Gibbon, the Historian”, p.330

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• The Indian who fells the tree that he may gather the fruit, and the Arab who plunders the caravans of commerce are actuated by the same impulse of savage nature, and relinquish for momentary rapine the long and secure possession of the most important blessings.

  Edward Gibbon

  Blessing, Long, Tree

  Edward Gibbon, H. H. Milman (1856). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.425

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• [The] vain and transitory scenes of human greatness are unworthy of a serious thought.

  Edward Gibbon

  Greatness, Serious, Scene

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)”, p.1871, Delphi Classics

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• The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted with blind deference from one generation of disciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercise the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind.

  Edward Gibbon

  Plato, School, Exercise

  Edward Gibbon (1840). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1”, p.55

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