Edward Gibbon
19 quotations
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.
The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.
I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.
Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.
History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.
I was never less alone than when by myself.
We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.
Style is the image of character.
A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India.
Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.