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
In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill . . . — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Yet the civilians have always respected the natural right of a citizen to dispose of his life . . . — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But the works of man are impotent against the assaults of nature . . . — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline. — 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 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
[But] the man who dares not expose his life in the defence of his children and his property, has lost in society… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The Indian who fells the tree that he may gather the fruit, and the Arab who plunders the caravans of commerce are… — 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
Every event, or appearance, or accident, which seems to deviate from the ordinary course of nature has been rashly ascribed to the… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“it was reserved for Augustus to relinquish the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Antoninus diffused order and tranquility over the greatest part of the earth. His reign is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing… — 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
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
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
“but it was reserved for Augustus to relinquish the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of… — 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
There are two very natural propensities which we may distinguish in the most virtuous and liberal dispositions, the love of pleasure and… — 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
The slightest force, when it is applied to assist and guide the natural descent of its object, operates with irresistible weight; and… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber… — 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 Gauls were endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they wanted courage to defend them, they were… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
“The descendants of Abraham were flattered by the opinion, that they alone were the heirs of the covenant, and they were apprehensive… — 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 land was then covered with morasses and forests, which spread to a boundless extent, whenever man has ceased to exercise his… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures; since the productions of nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the labour… — 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
Metellus Numidicus, the censor, acknowledged to the Roman people, in a public oration, that had kind nature allowed us to exist without… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
But how shall we excuse the supine inattention of the Pagan and philosophic world to those evidences which were presented by the… — 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
![“[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/841/edward-gibbon-710_belief_we-should-suspend-our-belief-of-every-ta_1033720.jpg)
![“[But] the man who dares not expose his life in the defence of his children and his property, has lost in society the first and most active energies of nature.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9b9/edward-gibbon-710_active_but-the-man-who-dares-not-expose-his-lif_2242963.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)