A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
Edward Gibbon

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

Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.
Edward Gibbon

Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
Edward Gibbon

But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
Edward Gibbon

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.
Edward Gibbon

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

Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.
Edward Gibbon

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.
Edward Gibbon

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

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
Edward Gibbon

Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.
Edward Gibbon

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

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

I was never less alone than when by myself.
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

Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.
Edward Gibbon

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

My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.
Edward Gibbon