436 Quotes by Edward Gibbon

Another d-mn’d thick, square book! Always, scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh! Mr. Gibbon?

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.

The great work of Gibbon is indispensable to the student of history. The literature of Europe offers no substitute for “The.

The primitive Christians perpetually trod on mystic ground, and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most extraordinary events.

The laws of a nation form the most instructive portion of its history.

The forests and morasses of Germany were filled with a hardy race of barbarians, who despised life when it was separated from freedom;.

I shall not, I trust, be accused of superstition; but I must remark that, even in this world, the natural order of events will sometimes afford the strong appearances of moral retribution.

When Julian ascended the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward the Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate age, the Grecian purity of taste, of manners and of religion. The emperor’s prepossession was increased and justified by the discreet pride of his favourite.

It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contemporaries should discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated.