Quotes from Edward Gibbon

The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.

Man has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow-creatures, than from the convulsions of the elements.

But the works of man are impotent against the assaults of nature . . .

[We should] suspend our belief of every tale that deviates from the laws of nature and the character of man.

Greek is doubtless the most perfect [language] that has been contrived by the art of man.

The land was then covered with morasses and forests, which spread to a boundless extent, whenever man has ceased to exercise his dominion over the earth.

A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the last extremes of injustice and oppression.

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.

The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.

The law of nature instructs most animals to cherish and educate their infant progeny. The law of reason inculcates to the human species the returns of filial piety.

There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times.

There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition to their inclination and interest.

Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline.

These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour.

[The monks'] credulity debased and vitiated the faculties of the mind: they corrupted the evidence of history; and superstition gradually extinguished the hostile light of philosophy and science.

Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself.

The Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects.

Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.

The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.

[The] liberty of divorce does not contribute to happiness and virtue. The facility of separation would destroy all mutual confidence, and inflame every trifling dispute . . .

The history of empires is the record of human misery; the history of the sciences is that of the greatness and happiness of mankind.

Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.

Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.

It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable.