Edward Gibbon

“All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.”

“The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.”

“Vicissitudes of fortune, which spare neither man nor the proudest of his works, which bury empires and cities in a common grave.”

“I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.”

“History is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.”

“Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.”

“Style is the image of character.”

“The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.”

“Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.”

“The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.”

“Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the established religions of the earth.”

“The power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.”

“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.”

“In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, comfort, and freedom.”

“The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.”