Edward Gibbon Quotes
An important and groundbreaking historian.
(1737 - 1794)
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A false modesty is the meanest species of pride.
[Modesty]
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A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
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Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.
[Agriculture]
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All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
[Progress]
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Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
[Beauty]
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Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
[Books]
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But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
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Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
[Conversation]
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Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.
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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.
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Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
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From this slender beginning I have gradually formed a numerous and select library, the foundation of all my works, and the best comfort of my life, both at home and abroad.
[Libraries]
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History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
[History]
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Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.
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I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.
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I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
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I the Christian religion is one that diffuses among the people a pure, benevolent, and universal system of ethics, adapted to every condition of life, and recommended as the will and reason of the Supreme Deity, and enforced by sanctions of eternal punishment.
[Religion]
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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.
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I was never less alone than when by myself.
[Never]
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If I may speak of myself, my happy hours have far exceeded, and far exceed, the scanty numbers of the Caliph of Spain; and I shall not scruple to add, that many of them are due to the pleasing labor of composing my history.
[Happiness]
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