From the paths of blood (and such is the history of nations) I cannot refuse to turn aside to gather some flowers… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does… — 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
[The] events by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, leave a faint impression on the page of history, and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The laws of war, that restrain the exercise of national rapine and murder, are founded on two principles of substantial interest: the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The difference of language, dress, and manners . . . severs and alienates the nations of the globe. — 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
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
The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry;… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe… — 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] events by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, leave a faint impression on the page of history, and the patience of the reader would be exhausted by the repetition of the same hostilities [between Rome and Persia], undertaken without cause, prosecuted without glory, and…” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/228/edward-gibbon-710_causes_the-events-by-which-the-fate-of-nations_826775.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)
![“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)
