The Quotes canon
Sourced and curated.
Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Decline of Rome2 quotes
The pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors. — Edward Gibbon · 1788This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Fortune2 quotes
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Moral theory2 quotes
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Rome2 quotes
This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. — Edward Gibbon · 1776It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind. — Edward Gibbon · 1794American politics1 quote
The United States could well declare unilaterally that this stage of the Vietnam war is over-that we have "won" in the sense that our Armed Forces are in control of most of the field and no potential enemy is in a position to establish its authority over South Vietnam. — George Aiken · 1966Anti-imperialism1 quote
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. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Change1 quote
All that is human must retrograde if it do not advance. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Christianity1 quote
The pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors. — Edward Gibbon · 1788Christianity and Islam1 quote
Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Constitutional theory1 quote
The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Counterfactual history1 quote
Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Good government1 quote
Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government. — Edward Gibbon · 1776History1 quote
History...is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Imperialism1 quote
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. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Inflection points1 quote
Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Inspiration1 quote
It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed fryars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind. — Edward Gibbon · 1794Law1 quote
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. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Legal theory1 quote
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. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Martial courage1 quote
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common, quality of human nature. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Morality1 quote
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Nature of history1 quote
History...is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Old age1 quote
The abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life. — Edward Gibbon · 1794Passage of time1 quote
The abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life. — Edward Gibbon · 1794Persuasion1 quote
Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Political corruption1 quote
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty. — Edward Gibbon · 1781Power dynamics1 quote
Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Powerlessness1 quote
Persuasion is the resource of the feeble; and the feeble can seldom persuade. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Randomness1 quote
Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave. — Edward Gibbon · 1789Religion1 quote
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 useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. — Edward Gibbon · 1776Religious tolerance1 quote
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 useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. — Edward Gibbon · 1776