Edward Gibbon

“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”

“The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.”

“History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.”

“Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.”

“All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.”

“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 usefu...”

“I must reluctantly observe that two causes, the abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life.”

“Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.”

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

“Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.”

“My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.”

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

“In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.”

“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 pol...”

“Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.”

“Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.”

“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.”

“But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.”

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

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