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The most civilised nations of modern Europe issued from the woods of Germany, and in the rude institutions of those barbarians we may still distinguish the original principles of our present laws and manners.

— Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)

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Source: Chap. 9.
Work: The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, 1776
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times.

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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.