436 Quotes by Edward Gibbon

It was no longer esteemed infamous for a Roman to survive his honor and independence.

Instead of pressing, with the foremost of the crowd, into the palace of Constantinople, Libanius calmly expected his arrival at Antioch; withdrew from court on the first symptoms of coldness and indifference; required a formal invitation for each visit; and taught his sovereign an important lesson, that he might command the obedience of a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment of a friend.

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future reformation.

The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought and language . . .

Sixty thousand blacks are annually embarked from the coast of Guinea, never to return to their native country; but they are embarked in chains: and this constant emigration, which, in the space of two centuries, might have furnished armies to overrun the globe, accuses the guilt of Europe and the weakness of Africa.

It is impossible to reduce, or, at least, to hold a distant country against the wishes and efforts of its inhabitants.

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

The love of freedom, so often invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among the licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire of impunity.