110+ Edward Gibbon Quotes On Christianity, Decline And Fall

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his most significant work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which traces the trajectory of Western civilization from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople. Gibbon's six-volume work was published between 1776 and 1788 and is considered one of the greatest works of history ever written. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Edward Gibbon on christianity, decline, fall.

Top 10 Edward Gibbon Quotes

1. I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
2. 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.
3. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. The superstition of the people was not embittered theological rancor.
4. We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.
5. Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.
6. I was never less alone than when by myself.
7. Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
8. The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.
9. [In] the national and religious conflict of the [Byzantine and Saracen] empires, peace was without confidence, and war without mercy.
10. Our ignorance is God; what we know is science.

Edward Gibbon Short Quotes

• [Whole] generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in the space of a single hour.
• Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
• Religion is a mere question of geography.
• bizarreness masqueraded as creativity.
• Style is the image of character.
• The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
• History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
• A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
• Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
• All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.

Edward Gibbon Quotes About Christianity

According to the faith and mercy of his Christian enemies, [Chosroes] sunk without hope into a still deeper abyss [Hell]; and it will not be denied, that tyrants of every age and sect are the best entitled to such infernal abodes. — Edward Gibbon

In the second century of the Christian era, the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind. — Edward Gibbon

In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome. — 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. — Edward Gibbon

The awful mysteries of the Christian faith and worship were concealed from the eyes of strangers, and even of catechumens, with an affected secrecy, which served to excite their wonder and curiosity. — Edward Gibbon

Many a sober Christian would rather admit that a wafer is God than that God is a cruel and capricious tyrant. — Edward Gibbon

The primitive Christians perpetually trod on mystic ground, and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most extraordinary events — Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon Quotes About Rome

Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years, the faith of the princes and prelates who reigned in the capital of the East was rejected in the purer schools of Rome and Alexandria. — Edward Gibbon

But [the Arabs'] friendship was venal, their faith inconstant, their enmity capricious: it was an easier task to excite than to disarm these roving barbarians; and, in the familiar intercourse of war, they learned to see, and to despise, the splendid weakness both of Rome and of Persia. — Edward Gibbon

Whatever evils either reason or declamation have imputed to extensive empire, the power of Rome was attended with some beneficial consequences to mankind; and the same freedom of intercourse which extended the vices, diffused likewise the improvements of social life. — Edward Gibbon

Women [in ancient Rome] were condemned to the perpetual tutelage of parents, husbands, or guardians; a sex created to please and obey was never supposed to have attained the age of reason and experience. Such, at least, was the stern and haughty spirit of the ancient law . . . — Edward Gibbon

The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with a repetition of those calamities, which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome. — Edward Gibbon

It was Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind. — Edward Gibbon

It was with the utmost difficulty that ancient Rome could support the institution of six vestals; but the primitive church was filled with a great number of persons of either sex who had devoted themselves to the profession of perpetual chastity. — Edward Gibbon

But the sages of Greece and Rome turned aside from the awful spectacle, and, pursuing the ordinary occupations of life and study, appeared unconscious of any alterations in the moral of physical government of the world. — Edward Gibbon

If all the barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West: and if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of freedom, of virtue, and of honour. — Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon Quotes About Desire

A philosopher may deplore the eternal discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest. — Edward Gibbon

The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far that or any other consideration may operate to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still desire to remain ignorant. — Edward Gibbon

A warlike nation like the Germans, without either cities, letters, arts, or money, found some compensation for this savage state in the enjoyment of liberty. Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. — Edward Gibbon

It is the common calamity of old age to lose whatever might have rendered it desirable. — Edward Gibbon

The desire of perfection became the ruling passion of their soul; and it is well known, that while reason embraces a cold mediocrity, our passions hurry us, with rapid violence, over the space which lies between the most opposite extremes. — Edward Gibbon

I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being. — Edward Gibbon

Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of alchymy; and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry. — Edward Gibbon

The love of freedom, so often invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among the licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire of impunity. — Edward Gibbon

Pleasure and guilt are synonymous terms in the language of the monks, and they discovered, by experience, that rigid fasts, and abstemious diet, are the most effectual preservatives against the impure desires of the flesh. — Edward Gibbon

But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burdens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord. — Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon Quotes About Side

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. — Edward Gibbon

In the field of controversy I always pity the moderate party, who stand on the open middle ground exposed to the fire of both sides. — Edward Gibbon

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. — Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon Quotes About Original

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved-to write a book. — Edward Gibbon

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book. — Edward Gibbon

Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their invisible enemies. — Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon Famous Quotes And Sayings

A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness. — Edward Gibbon

The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appearance and produce the effects of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius. — Edward Gibbon

Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors, that, whatever might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A life of pleasure or virtue, of severity or mildness, of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave; and almost every reign is closed by the same disgusting repetition of treason and murder. — Edward Gibbon

Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state reason. He promised only to betray; he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation. — Edward Gibbon

To the University of Oxford I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College: they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life. — Edward Gibbon

It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work. — Edward Gibbon

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise. — Edward Gibbon

The law of nature instructs most animals to cherish and educate their infant progeny. The law of reason inculcates to the human species the returns of filial piety. — Edward Gibbon

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

If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery [gunpowder] with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind. — Edward Gibbon

A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the last extremes of injustice and oppression. — Edward Gibbon

Under a democratical government the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude. — Edward Gibbon

That country [Carthage] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws; and every step of intestine discord was marked by some deplorable victory of savage man over civilized society. — Edward Gibbon

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes. — Edward Gibbon

It has been sagaciously conjectured, that the artful legislator indulged the stubborn prejudices of his countrymen. — Edward Gibbon

The imprudent Maximus disregarded these salutary considerations: he gratified his resentment and ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his feet; and he heard himself saluted Emperor by the unanimous voice of the senate and people. But the day of his inauguration was the last day of his happiness. — Edward Gibbon

The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events. — Edward Gibbon

It was among the ruins of the capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised nearly twenty years of my life. — Edward Gibbon

My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India. — Edward Gibbon

Both Moscow and [Kiev], the modern and the ancient capitals, were reduced to ashes [by the Tartars]; a temporary ruin, less fatal than the deep, and perhaps indelible, mark, which a servitude of two hundred years has imprinted on the character of the Russians. — Edward Gibbon

At that time the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was filled by Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood. — Edward Gibbon

To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor. — Edward Gibbon

But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private interest. — Edward Gibbon

Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty. — Edward Gibbon

The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted with blind deference from one generation of disciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercise the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind. — Edward Gibbon

The love of spectacles was the taste, or rather passion, of the Syrians: the most skilful artists were procured form the adjacent cities; a considerable share of the revenue was devoted to the public amusements; and the magnificence of the games of the theatre and circus was considered as the happiness, and as the glory, of Antioch. — Edward Gibbon

Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless. — Edward Gibbon

The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical history, will probably conclude that, if the eyes of the spectators have sometimes been deceived by fraud, the understanding of the readers has much more frequently been insulted by fiction. — Edward Gibbon

[It] is the interest as well as duty of a sovereign to maintain the authority of the laws. — Edward Gibbon

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

The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. — Edward Gibbon

Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition, was not denied to the Roman slave; and if he had any opportunity of rendering himself either useful or agreeable, he might very naturally expect that the diligence and fidelity of a few years would be rewarded with the inestimable gift of freedom. — Edward Gibbon

The best and most important part of every man's education is that which he gives himself. — Edward Gibbon

The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more real comforts among the modern nations of Europe than the senators of Rome could derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual luxury. — Edward Gibbon

Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such patient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline. — Edward Gibbon

The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings. — Edward Gibbon

The frequent repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does not subdue, the reason of mankind. — Edward Gibbon

The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience. — Edward Gibbon

Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive. — Edward Gibbon

Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery. — Edward Gibbon

There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground. — Edward Gibbon

I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son. — Edward Gibbon

[Peace] cannot be honorable or secure, if the sovereign betrays a pusillanimous aversion to war. — Edward Gibbon

Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative. — Edward Gibbon

It was [Totila's] constant theme, that national vice and ruin are inseparably connected; that victory is the fruit of moral as well as military virtue; and that the prince, and even the people, are responsible for the crimes which they neglect to punish. — Edward Gibbon

The mathematics are distinguished by a particular privilege, that is, in the course of ages, they may always advance and can never recede. — Edward Gibbon

There is nothing perhaps more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition to their inclination and interest. — Edward Gibbon

The ascent to greatness, however steep and dangerous, may entertain an active spirit with the consciousness and exercise of its own power: but the possession of a throne could never yet afford a lasting satisfaction to an ambitious mind. — Edward Gibbon

The Indian who fells the tree that he may gather the fruit, and the Arab who plunders the caravans of commerce are actuated by the same impulse of savage nature, and relinquish for momentary rapine the long and secure possession of the most important blessings. — Edward Gibbon

The Romans, who so coolly and so concisely mention the acts of justice which were exercised by the legions, reserve their compassion and their eloquence for their own sufferings, when the provinces were invaded and desolated by the arms of the successful Barbarians. — Edward Gibbon

The two Antonines (for it is of them that we are now speaking) governed the Roman world forty-two years, with the same invariable spirit of wisdom and virtue. ... Their united reigns are possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government. — Edward Gibbon

But a wild democracy . . . too often disdains the essential principles of justice. — Edward Gibbon

On the slightest touch the unsupported fabric of their pride and power fell to the ground. The expiring senate displayed a sudden lustre, blazed for a moment, and was extinguished for ever. — Edward Gibbon

The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly confesses that he has related whatever might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace, of religion. — Edward Gibbon

The peace of the Eastern church was invaded by a swarm of fanatics [monks], incapable of fear, or reason, or humanity; and the Imperial troops acknowledged, without shame, that they were much less apprehensive of an encounter with the fiercest Barbarians. — Edward Gibbon

The simple circumstantial narrative (did such a narrative exist) of the ruin of a single town, of the misfortunes of a single family, might exhibit an interesting and instructive picture of human manners; but the tedious repetition of vague and declamatory complaints would fatigue the attention of the most patient reader. — Edward Gibbon

The love of study, a passion which derives fresh vigor from enjoyment, supplies each day, each hour, with a perpetual source of independent and rational pleasure. — Edward Gibbon

I have somewhere heard or read the frank confession of a Benedictine abbot: "My vow of poverty has given me a hundred thousand crowns a year; my vow of obedience has raised me to the rank of a sovereign prince." - I forget the consequences of his vow of chastity. — Edward Gibbon

History should be to the political economist a wellspring of experience and wisdom. — Edward Gibbon

Every event, or appearance, or accident, which seems to deviate from the ordinary course of nature has been rashly ascribed to the immediate action of the Deity. — Edward Gibbon

As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. — Edward Gibbon

The possession and the enjoyment of property are the pledges which bind a civilised people to an improved country. — Edward Gibbon

Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation, that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom. — Edward Gibbon

So natural to man is the practice of violence that our indulgence allows the slightest provocation, the most disputable right, as a sufficient ground of national hostility. — Edward Gibbon

The first of earthly blessings, independence. — Edward Gibbon

Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the catholic church. — Edward Gibbon

But in almost every province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without authority and without discipline, invaded the peaceful inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of antiquity still displays the ravages of those barbarians who alone had time and inclination to execute such laborious destruction. — Edward Gibbon

The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice. The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of succeeding ages. — Edward Gibbon

The terror of the Roman arms added weight and dignity to the moderation of the emperors. They preserved the peace by a constant preparation for war. — Edward Gibbon

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 in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction. — Edward Gibbon

The Gauls derided the hairy and gigantic savages of the North; their rustic manners, dissonant joy, voracious appetite, and their horrid appearance, equally disgusting to the sight and to the smell. — Edward Gibbon

In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Hosein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader. — Edward Gibbon

In the most rigorous [Roman] laws, a wife was condemned to support a gamester, a drunkard, or a libertine, unless he were guilty of homicide, poison, or sacrilege, in which cases the marriage, as it should seem, might have been dissolved by the hand of the executioner. — Edward Gibbon

Life Lessons by Edward Gibbon

1. Edward Gibbon taught us the importance of hard work and dedication; his masterpiece, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was the result of over a decade of tireless research and writing.
2. He also showed us that it is possible to overcome adversity; despite a difficult upbringing and a lack of formal education, he was able to become one of the most respected and influential historians of his time.
3. Finally, he demonstrated the power of curiosity; his lifelong passion for history and his insatiable thirst for knowledge were the driving forces behind his success.