Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
I have somewhere heard or read the frank confession of a Benedictine abbot: "My vow of poverty has given me a hundred… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the… — 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
At the hour of midnight the Salerian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound 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
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
Julian sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of four score years, had established in… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which,… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
[The] emperor of the West, the feeble and dissolute Valentinian, [had] reached his thirty-fifth year without attaining the age of reason or… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
It was among the ruins of the capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
The comparative view of the powers of the magistrates, in two remarkable instances, is alone sufficient to represent the whole system of… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal… — 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
The emperor of the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder brother, whose death happened towards… — 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
In less than seven years the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated, and the city appeared to resume its former… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to the Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity 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] emperor of the West, the feeble and dissolute Valentinian, [had] reached his thirty-fifth year without attaining the age of reason or courage.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/012/edward-gibbon-710_age_the-emperor-of-the-west-the-feeble-and-d_1736985.jpg)
![“Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal than the deep, and perhaps indelible, mark, which a servitude of two hundred years has imprinted on the character of the Russians.” quote by Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3fb/edward-gibbon-710_ancient_both-moscow-and-kiev-the-modern-and-the_2181981.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)
