436 Quotes by Edward Gibbon

It was among the ruins of the capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised nearly twenty years of my life.

A reformer should be exempt from the suspicion of interest, and he must possess the confidence and esteem of those whom he proposes to reclaim.

As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble-minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards; full of affection, of fiery daring. Something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood.

History should be to the political economist a wellspring of experience and wisdom.

Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

The monastic studies have tended, for the most part, to darken, rather than to dispel, the cloud of superstition.

Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.

The fortune of nations has often depended on accidents . . .

Amiable weaknesses of human nature.