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
But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the… — 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
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
The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] liberty of divorce does not contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Freedom is the first wish of our heart; freedom is the first blessing of nature; and unless we bind ourselves with voluntary… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The love of freedom, so often invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among the licentious Franks, to the contempt of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. From his studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and heroes;… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“Suspicious princes often promote the last of mankind from a vain persuasion, that those who have no dependence, except on their favour,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies form the only balance capable… — 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
Suspicious princes often promote the last of mankind, from a vain persuasion that those who have no dependence except on their favor… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Extreme distress, which unites the virtue of a free people, imbitters the factions of a declining monarchy. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honor and independence. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the establishment of my fame.… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The love of liberty was the ruling passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it, their best treasure; the word that expressed… — 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
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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