Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon FRS was an English historian, writer and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788 and is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organized religion...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth27 April 1737
education teacher teaching
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.
war history littles
History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
happiness firsts indispensable
The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.
art history might
Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation.
book reading hero
Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
gratitude believe simple
'I believe in one God and Mohammed the Apostle of God,' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.
wisdom responsibility libertarian-party
In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.
simple greatness rome
The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long.
decent easy enjoyed gifts
Decent easy men, who supinely enjoyed the gifts of the founder.
single blessing independence
The first of earthly blessings, independence.
side waves wind
The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators
respect life-and-love mistake
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
military character long
As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters”; “[the barbarians’] poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism”; “the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous
single wisdom loneliness
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.