Empires Quotes - Page 22

• The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.

  Edward Gibbon

  Army, Dust, Europe

  Edward Gibbon (1837). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.526

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• If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West: and if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of freedom, of virtue, and of honour.

  Edward Gibbon

  Loss, Rome, History

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.42

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• Neither should men study war with a view to the enslavement of those who do not deserve to be enslaved; but first of all they should provide against their own enslavement, and in the second place obtain empire for the good of the governed, and not for the sake of exercising a general despotism, and in the third place they should seek to be masters only over those who deserve to be slaves.

  Aristotle

  War, Exercise, Men

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.383, Simon and Schuster

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• If centralism is ultimately to prevail; if our entire system of free Institutions as established by our common ancestors is to be subverted, and an Empire is to be established in their stead; if that is to be the last scene of the great tragic drama now being enacted: then, be assured, that we of the South will be acquitted, not only in our own consciences, but in the judgment of mankind, of all responsibility for so terrible a catastrophe, and from all guilt of so great a crime against humanity.

  Alexander H. Stephens

  Drama, Responsibility, Humanity

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• Ones teachers all belonged to that generation who were imperialists, and the whole narrative throughout my adolescence was of countries leaving the empire. I find it extraordinary that this purpose which drove how we viewed the world is now considered to be something that has no effect upon us.

  Jeremy Paxman

  Country, Teacher, Leaving

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• Modern Armenia survived only because it was the single province controlled, and protected, by the Russian Empire. The rest of the territory within its historical borders is almost wholly devoid of ethnic Armenians.

  John Shimkus

  Historical, Borders, Armenia

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• Today, on our own turf, we face pagan ignorance about God every bit as deep as that which the early church faced in the Roman Empire.

  J. I. Packer

  Ignorance, Church, Today

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• God is the ruler of history. His times are well chosen The Roman Empire was an instrument in his hand. And so are the nations of the modern world.

  John Gresham Machen

  God, Time, Hands

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• In the late 1930s, both the British and American movie industries made a succession of films celebrating the decency of the British Empire in order to challenge the threatening tide of Nazism and fascism and also to provide employment for actors from Los Angeles's British colony. The best two were Hollywood's Gunga Din and Britain's The Four Feathers...

  Philip French

  Order, Two, Challenges

  "The Four Feathers" by Philip French, www.theguardian.com. February 17, 2007.

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• One of the painfully sobering realizations that come from reading history is the utter incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires - and the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people who are enthralled by their words or their posturing.

  Thomas Sowell

  Reading, People, Leader

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• This is the deadening consensus that crosses party lines, that dominates our major media, and that is strangling the liberty and prosperity that were once the birthright of Americans. Dissenters who tell their fellow citizens what is really going on are subject to smear campaigns that, like clockwork, are aimed at the political heretic. Truth is treason in the empire of lies.

  Ron Paul

  Lying, Party, Media

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• The demise of the American empire will be no more regretted than the demise of the Soviet empire.

  Chalmers Johnson

  Demise, Soviet, American Empire

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• [The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of which the practice, in a large and vicious community, is seldom consistent with the public safety.

  Edward Gibbon

  Law, Practice, Safety

  Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.152

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• 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.

  Edward Gibbon

  Communication, Army, Effort

  Edward Gibbon (2008). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.302, Cosimo, Inc.

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• [Instead] of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.

  Edward Gibbon

  Long, Inquiring, Should

  Edward Gibbon (1840). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”

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• For what fortress, what city, in the wide extent of the Roman empire, can hope to exist, secure and impregnable, if it is our pleasure that it should be erased from the earth?

  Attila the Hun

  Cities, Earth, Pleasure

  "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". Book by Edward Gibbon, Vol. III, chapter 34, 1781.

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• [In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.

  Edward Gibbon

  Religious, War, Byzantine

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• The appearance of strength is all about you. It would seem to last forever. However... the rotten tree-trunk, until the very moment when the storm-blast breaks it in two, has all the appearance of might it ever had. The storm-blast whistles through the branches of the Empire even now. Listen... and you will hear the creaking.

  Isaac Asimov

  Two, Tree, Forever

  Isaac Asimov (1986). “Foundation Trilogy”, Del Rey

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• The many woes that afflict out nation are rooted in the morally bankrupt paradigms of socialism, interventionism, and empire that have held our nation in their grip for decades and that the only real solution to such woes is libertarianism.

  Jacob G. Hornberger

  Real, Woe, Socialism

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• I think democracies are prone to inflation because politicians will naturally spend [excessively] - they have the power to print money and will use money to get votes. If you look at inflation under the Roman Empire, with absolute rulers, they had much greater inflation, so we don't set the record. It happens over the long-term under any form of government.

  Charlie Munger

  Thinking, Government, Long

  Charlie Munger's remarks at the 2004 Wesco Annual Meeting in Pasadena, California, www.tilsonfunds.com. May 5, 2004.

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• Each of us must work to become a hardheaded realist, or else we risk wasting our time and energy on pursuing impossible dreams. Yet constant naysayers pursue no less impossible dreams. Their fear and cynicism move nothing forward. They kill progress. How many cynics built empires, great cities, or powerful corporations?

  Colin Powell

  Dream, Powerful, Moving

  Colin Powell (2012). “It Worked for Me (Enhanced Edition): In Life and Leadership”, Harper Collins

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• Curiously, the righteous Pharisees had little historical impact, save for a brief time in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. But Jesus' disciples - an ornery, undependable, and hopelessly flawed group of men - became drunk with the power of a gospel that offered free forgiveness to the worst sinners and traitors. Those men managed to change the world.

  Philip Yancey

  Jesus, Men, Impact

  Philip Yancey (2009). “Grace Notes”, p.95, Harper Collins

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• What can Americans learn from the Olympics spectacle? According to the IMF, China will succeed America as the dominant economic power in the course of the next presidential term, so Howard Fineman, editorial director of the Huffington Post and MSNBC mainstay, was anxious to pick up tips. 'Brits long ago lost their empire,' he tweeted, 'but overall show us how to lose global power gracefully.' So there's that.

  Mark Steyn

  America, Long Ago, Presidential

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• I never know what my next move will be in Hollywood. It's such an unpredictable town. People get jaded and lost and I've been able to stay a float. I think the next logical step in my career would be to start my own filmmaking empire like (Harvey Weinstein) and (Bob Weinstein) did so many years ago. I think if only the unions weren't so strict in Boston, I'd set up shop there and make films of a certain quality you don't see represented these days. I'm full of ideas and dreams.

  Ben Affleck

  Dream, Moving, Thinking

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• To fight the Empire is to be infected by its derangement.... Whoever defeats the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates like a virus.

  Philip K. Dick

  Fighting, Viruses, Defeat

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