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
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
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
Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative. — 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
At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: the Roman senate appeared to possess the sovereign authority, and devolved… — 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
The aspiring efforts of genius, or virtue, either in active or speculative life, are measured, not so much by their real elevation,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Fashion was the only law, pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendour of dress and furniture was the only distinction of the… — 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
To a philosophic eye, the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues. — 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
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
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
Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors, that, whatever might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The fierce and partial writers of the times, ascribing all virtue to themselves, and imputing all guilt to their adversaries, have painted… — 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
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
The barbarians of Germany had felt, and still dreaded, the arms of the young Caesar; his soldiers were the companions of his… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The two Antonines (for it is of them that we are now speaking) governed the Roman world forty-two years, with the same… — 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
[All] the manly virtues were oppressed by the servile and pusillanimous reign of the monks. — 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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