Quotes by Edward Gibbon

“As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him.  A noble-minded creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards; full of affection, of fiery daring.  Something chivalrous in him; brave as a lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian knighthood.”

Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.

The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

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.

I saw and loved.

The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.

The first of earthly blessings, independence.

I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future date of my History, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.

Amiable weaknesses of human nature.

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. [96-180 A.D.]