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The writer who aspires to the name of historian, is obliged to consult a variety of original testimonies, each of which, taken separately, is perhaps imperfect and partial. By a judicious reunion and arrangement of these dispersed materials, he endeavours to form a consistent and interesting narrative.

— Edward Gibbon Vindication (1779)

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Source: Vindication (1779), section XII
Work: Vindication, 1779
Source quality: Source identified Names the work or year, but without an exact location.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edward Gibbon (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.