Edward Gibbon Quotes - Page 12

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• The most successful of the Tartar princes assumed the military command, to which he was entitled by the superiority either of merit or of power. He was raised to the throne by the acclamations of his equals; and the title of Khan expresses, in the language of the North of Asia, the full extent of the regal dignity. The right of hereditary succession was long confined to the blood of the founder of the monarchy; and at this moment all the Khans, who reign from Crimea to the wall of China, are the lineal descendants of the renowned Zingis.

  Edward Gibbon

  Wall, Military, Successful

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V2: the History Focus”, p.354, 谷月社

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• The mixture of Sarmatic and German blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani, to whiten their swarthy complexions, and to tinge their hair with a yellowish cast, which is seldom found in the Tartar race.

  Edward Gibbon

  Hair, Race, Blood

  Edward Gibbon, J. B. Bury (2012). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Edited in Seven Volumes with Introduction, Notes, Appendices, and Index”, p.90, Cambridge University Press

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• The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked and gradually united against him two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who envied his success, and the obstinate sinners, who were offended by his reproofs. When Chrysostom thundered from the pulpit of St. Sophia against the degeneracy of the Christians, his shafts were spent among the crowd, without wounding or even marking the character of any individual.

  Edward Gibbon

  Christian, Character, Past

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.502

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• Such events may be disbelieved or disregarded; but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have dignified the saintly calendar, shall not be lost in oblivion.

  Edward Gibbon

  Names, History, Events

  Edward Gibbon (1821). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.209

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• The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.

  Edward Gibbon

  Army, Dust, Europe

  Edward Gibbon (1837). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”, p.526

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• I darted a contemptuous look at the stately models of superstition.

  Edward Gibbon

  Superstitions, Looks, Belief

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• Discussing the attempts of Augustus' generals to add to the extent of the Roman Empire early in his reign:
  The northern countries of Europe scarcely deserved the expense and labour of conquest. The forests and morasses of Germany were filled with a hardy race of barbarians, who despised life when it was separated from freedom; and though, on the first attack, they seemed to yield to the weight of the Roman power, they soon, by a signal act of despair, regained their independence, and reminded Augustus of the vicissitude of fortune.

  Edward Gibbon

  Country, Yield, Race

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• Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for [Augustus] to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the possession more precarious and less beneficial.

  Edward Gibbon

  War, Rome, Events

  Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812”, p.59, Modern Library

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• The pains and pleasures of the body, howsoever important to ourselves, are an indelicate subject of conversation

  Edward Gibbon

  Pain, Important, Body

  Edward Gibbon (1961). “Autobiography”

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• Freedom is the first wish of our heart; freedom is the first blessing of nature; and unless we bind ourselves with voluntary chains of interest or passion, we advance in freedom as we advance in years

  Edward Gibbon

  Passion, Heart, Blessing

  Herbert Woodfield Paul, Alfred Tennyson Baron Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Edward Gibbon, George Savile Marquis of Halifax (1915). “Men and Letters”

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• So natural to man is the practice of violence that our indulgence allows the slightest provocation, the most disputable right, as a sufficient ground of national hostility.

  Edward Gibbon

  Men, Practice, Violence

  Edward Gibbon (2008). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.266, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The inactivity of a conqueror betrays the loss of strength and blood . . .

  Edward Gibbon

  Loss, Blood, Betray

  Edward Gibbon (1871). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.291

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• [Arabs are] a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack.

  Edward Gibbon

  People, Dangerous, Provoking

  Edward Gibbon (2013). “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: The Modern Library Collection (Complete and Unabridged)”, p.894, Modern Library

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• Yet the experience of four thousand years should enlarge our hopes, and diminish our apprehensions: we cannot determine to what height the human species may aspire in their advances towards perfection; but it may safely be presumed, that no people, unless the face of nature is changed, will relapse into their original barbarism.

  Edward Gibbon

  Years, Perfection, People

  Edward Gibbon (1846). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.445

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• The dark cloud, which had been cleared by the Phoenician discoveries, and finally dispelled by the arms of Caesar, again settled on the shores of the Atlantic, and a Roman province [Britain] was again lost among the fabulous Islands of the Ocean.

  Edward Gibbon

  Ocean, Dark, Clouds

  Edward Gibbon (1840). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire”

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• [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 . . .

  Edward Gibbon

  Divorce, Liberty, Doe

  Edward Gibbon (1854). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, with notes by Milman and Guizot. Ed. by W. Smith”, p.297

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• In the productions of the mind, as in those of the soil, the gifts of nature are excelled by industry and skill . . .

  Edward Gibbon

  Skills, Mind, Soil

  Edward Gibbon (2016). “The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.3339, e-artnow

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• The vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people [of Armorica], was incompatible either with freedom or servitude.

  Edward Gibbon

  People, Rebellious, Vain

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

  Edward Gibbon

  Art, Men, Perfect

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• Greek is a musical and prolific language, that gives a soul to the objects of sense, and a body to the abstractions of philosophy.

  Edward Gibbon

  Philosophy, Giving, Greek

  Edward Gibbon (1840). “The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire”

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• The books of jurisprudence were interesting to few, and entertaining to none: their value was connected with present use, and they sunk forever as soon as that use was superseded by the innovations of fashion, superior merit, or public authority.

  Edward Gibbon

  Fashion, Book, Interesting

  Edward Gibbon, Francis Parkman, William H. Prescott, Theodore Roosevelt (2012). “The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812”, p.1116, Modern Library

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• But a law, however venerable be the sanction, cannot suddenly transform the temper of the times . . .

  Edward Gibbon

  Law, Sanctions, Temper

  Edward Gibbon (1822). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.495

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• It has been sagaciously conjectured, that the artful legislator indulged the stubborn prejudices of his countrymen.

  Edward Gibbon

  Prejudice, Stubborn, Legislators

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Edward Gibbon (Illustrated)”, p.2407, Delphi Classics

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• History has scarcely deigned to notice [Libius Severus's] birth, his elevation, his character, or his death.

  Edward Gibbon

  Character, Birth, Elevation

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• Extreme distress, which unites the virtue of a free people, imbitters the factions of a declining monarchy.

  Edward Gibbon

  People, Virtue, Factions

  Edward Gibbon (2015). “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire V3: the History Focus”, p.336, 谷月社

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