92 quotes
Amiable weakness of human nature.
It has been calculated by the ablest politicians that no State, without being soon exhausted, can maintain above the hundredth part of its members in arms and idleness.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
There is no surer proof of the military skill of the Romans, than their first surmounting the idle terror, and afterwards disdaining the dangerous use, of elephants in war.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
Mr. Gibbon may still maintain the character of an historian; but it is difficult to conceive how Mr. Davis will support his pretensions, if he aspires to that of a gentleman.
Vindication (1779)
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.
We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win.
Sophia's Fire (2005)
Decent easy men, who supinely enjoyed the gifts of the founder.
Memoirs (1796)
To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor ...
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
The power of opinion is irresistible.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
Crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.
Memoirs (1796)
[W]henever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. The superstition of the people was not embittered theological rancor.
So urgent on the vulgar is the necessity of believing, that the fall of any system of mythology will most probably be succeeded by the introduction of some other mode of superstition.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
The traveller who has contemplated the ruins of ancient Rome may conceive some imperfect idea of the sentiments which they must have inspired when they reared their heads in the splendour of unsullied beauty.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
The chaste severity of the fathers in whatever related to the commerce of the two sexes flowed from the same principle—their abhorrence of every enjoyment which might gratify the sensual and degrade the spiritual nature of man.
The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference of age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
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.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
A long period of distress and anarchy, in which empire, and arts, and riches, had migrated from the banks of the Tiber, was incapable of restoring or adorning the city; and, as all that is human must retrograde if it do not advance, every successive age must have hastened the ruin of the works of antiquity.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)
I cannot repress my indignation at the use of those foolish obsolete, odious, words Whig and Tory.
[C]aution and vigilance are the most important lessons of the art of war.
The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)