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
History, in fact, is no more than a list of the crimes of humanity, human follies and accidents — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The history of empires is the record of human misery; the history of the sciences is that of the greatness and happiness… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] vain and transitory scenes of human greatness are unworthy of a serious thought. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Of human life, the most glorious or humble prospects are alike and soon bounded by the sepulchre. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of spoil is a… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The law of nature instructs most animals to cherish and educate their infant progeny. The law of reason inculcates to the human… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The active, insatiate principle of self-love can alone supply the arts of life and the wages of industry; and as soon as… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
If we are more affected by the ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have… — 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
We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion, that every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth,… — 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
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
The science of the church is neglected for the study of geometry, and they lose sight of Heaven while they are employed… — 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
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
Yet the experience of four thousand years should enlarge our hopes, and diminish our apprehensions: we cannot determine to what height the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world, admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the reality of that infernal art… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The value of money has been settled by general consent to express our wants and our property, as letters were invented to… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The simple circumstantial narrative (did such a narrative exist) of the ruin of a single town, of the misfortunes of a single… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Passion, interest, or caprice, suggested daily motives for the dissolution of marriage; a word, a sign, a message, a letter, the mandate… — 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… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Where the subject lies so far beyond our reach, the difference between the highest and the lowest of human understandings may indeed… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The German huts, open on every side to the eye of indiscretion or jealousy, were a better safeguard of conjugal fidelity than… — 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
'I believe in one God and Mohammed the Apostle of God,' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
In this primitive and abject state [of hunters and gatherers], which ill deserves the name of society, the human brute, without arts… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted with blind deference… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Majorian presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate 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
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
![“[The] vain and transitory scenes of human greatness are unworthy of a serious thought.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/617/edward-gibbon-710_greatness_the-vain-and-transitory-scenes-of-human_384763.jpg)
![“The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world, admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the reality of that infernal art [witchcraft], which was able to control the eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the human mind. . . . They believed, with the wildest…” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2cd/edward-gibbon-710_abhorrence_the-nations-and-the-sects-of-the-roman-w_1507076.jpg)
![“In this primitive and abject state [of hunters and gatherers], which ill deserves the name of society, the human brute, without arts or laws, almost without sense or language, is poorly distinguished from the rest of the animal creation.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/de0/edward-gibbon-710_animal_in-this-primitive-and-abject-state-of-hu_2722444.jpg)
![“That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/70c/edward-gibbon-710_barbarism_that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinkin_393.jpg)
![“[In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/338/edward-gibbon-710_byzantine_in-the-national-and-religious-conflict-o_29382.jpg)
![“[Every] hour of delay abates the fame and force of the invader, and multiplies the resources of defensive war.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4de/edward-gibbon-710_delay_every-hour-of-delay-abates-the-fame-and_94668.jpg)