3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon 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.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
3 December 2020 Edward Gibbon Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.
