The frequent repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does not subdue, the reason of mankind. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The terror of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the emperors. They preserved the peace by a… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The most distinguished merit of those two officers was their respective prowess, of the one in the combats of Bacchus, of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Such, indeed, is the policy of civil war: severely to remember injuries, and to forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The possession and the enjoyment of property are the pledges which bind a civilised people to an improved country. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts of justice which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Such events may be disbelieved or disregarded; but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have dignified the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The fabric of a mighty state, which has been reared by the labours of successive ages, could not be overturned by the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The active cavalry of Scythia is always followed, in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate number of spare horses,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The subject, however various and important, has already been so frequently, so ably, and so successfully discussed, that it is now grown… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The triumph of the Romans was indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king, whom they hung on a gibbet without… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had left to the vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It was the fashion of the times to attribute every remarkable event to the particular will of the Deity; the alterations of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The emperor of the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder brother, whose death happened towards… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Julian sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of four score years, had established in… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The Germans, in the age of Tacitus, were unacquainted with the use of letters; and the use of letters is the principal… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If this Punic war was carried on without any effusion of blood, it was owing much less to the moderation than to… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the second century of the Christian era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[Instead] of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“Edward Gibbon, in his classic work on the fall of the Roman Empire, describes the Roman era's declension as a place where… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It is seldom that minds long exercised in business have formed any habits of conversing with themselves, and in the loss of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Philosophy alone can boast (and perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy), that her gentle hand is able to… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to the Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] penalty of death was abolished in the Roman empire, a law of mercy most delightful to the humane theorist, but of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The imprudent Maximus disregarded these salutary considerations: he gratified his resentment and ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
When Julian ascended the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward the Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But the human character, however it may be exalted or depressed by a temporary enthusiasm, will return by degrees to its proper… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny of eunuchs and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated with transport in every… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
As long as the same passions and interests subsist among mankind, the questions of war and peace, of justice and policy, which… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear, animated with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a proper temper of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West:… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
[Every] hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
The science of the church is neglected for the study of geometry, and they lose sight of Heaven while they are employed in measuring… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
From the paths of blood (and such is the history of nations) I cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers of science… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share
![“[Instead] of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/f89/edward-gibbon-710_destroyed_instead-of-inquiring-why-the-roman-empir_626622.png)
![“[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.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/37b/edward-gibbon-710_community_the-penalty-of-death-was-abolished-in-th_414077.png)
