The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise without difficulty and without reluctance; and posterity will confess that the character… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If Julian had flattered himself that his personal connexion with the capital of the East would be productive of mutual satisfaction to… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked and gradually united against him two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
We stand in need of such reflections to comfort us for the loss of some illustrious characters, which in our eyes might… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The character of the tribunes was, in every respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] operation of the wisest laws is imperfect and precarious. They seldom inspire virtue, they cannot always restrain vice. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A jurisdiction thus vague and arbitrary was exposed to the most dangerous abuse: the substance, as well as the form, of justice… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
History has scarcely deigned to notice [Libius Severus's] birth, his elevation, his character, or his death. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The virtue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was of a severer and more laborious kind. It was the well-earned harvest of many a… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The patient and active virtues of a soldier are insensibly nursed in the habits and discipline of a pastoral life. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
That public virtue which among the ancients was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Whenever the spirit of fanaticism, at once so credulous and so crafty, has insinuated itself into a noble mind, it insensibly corrodes… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and hastened… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Although the progress of civilisation has undoubtedly contributed to assuage the fiercer passions of human nature, it seems to have been less… — 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
To the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the agreeable, to the love of action we may attribute most… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The love of action is a principle of a much stronger and more doubtful nature. It often leads to anger, to ambition,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
His manners were less pure, but his character was equally amiable with that of his father. Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library… — 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 Image
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 Image
[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
[Every] hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
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 Image
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