Edward Gibbon

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

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

My early and invincible love of reading, . . . I would not
exchange for the treasures of India.

My early and invincible love of reading, . . . I would not
exchange for the treasures of India.

To a philosophic eye, the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues.

To a philosophic eye, the vices of the clergy are far less dangerous than their virtues.

...as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst read more

...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.

The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of
furnishing very few materials for history, which is read more

The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of
furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little
more than the register of the crimes, and misfortunes of mankind.