Edward Gibbon Quotes
"Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: End, May, Reading, Thinking)
"It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Work, Action, Memory, Pen, Practice)
"I was never less alone than when by myself."
- Edward Gibbon
"I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Happiness, Friendship, Sex, Being, Desire, Passion, Possession, Rest, Tenderness)
"I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Mistake, People, Opinions, Respect)
"A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Heart)
"History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: History, Mankind)
"Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Government, Present, Ridicule, World)
"Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: First, Man, Teachers)
"Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Corruption, Liberty)
"Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Genius, Conversation, School, Solitude, Understanding)
"But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Power)
"Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Books, Heroes, Mind)
"Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Beauty)
"All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance."
- Edward Gibbon
"Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Hope, Comfort)
"The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Beginning, End, Loneliness, Talk, Thinking)
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win."
- Edward Gibbon
"Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Habits, Learning, Thinking)
"Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Freedom, Possessions, Poverty)
"The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators."
- Edward Gibbon
"The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: People, World, Worship)
"The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Choice, Exercise, Language, Mind, Style)
"The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Power, Constitution, Principles)
"My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Love, Reading)
"The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Laws)
"My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: English, Language, Obscurity)
"The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Nature, Quality, Courage, Human nature)
"The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; none has so deeply meditated on the subject; none is so sincerely interested in the event."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Performance)
"Style is the image of character."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Character, Style)
"Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Gratitude, Revenge)
"Our work is the presentation of our capabilities."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Work)
"Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Sympathy, Misery)
"History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: History, Mankind)
"The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Detail, Events)
"I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes."
- Edward Gibbon
(Related: Income, Wishes)