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Antoninus diffused order and tranquility over the greatest part of the earth. His reign 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.

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

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Source: Chapter 3
Work: The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, 1776
Source quality: Source identified Names the work or year, but without an exact location.

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Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.

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The true interest of an absolute monarch generally coincides with that of his people.

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In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.

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A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, is seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual situation.

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Notes from Wikiquote

This has often been paraphrased: History is indeed little more than the register of crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

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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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In a distant age and climate the tragic scene of the death of Hussyn will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.

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The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.

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Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.

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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.