Quote

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

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Edward Gibbon
Age: 56 †
Born: 1737
Born: May 8
Died: 1794
Died: January 16
Classical Scholar
Historian
Politician
Writer
Gibbon
Trying
Single
Paragraph
Work
Memories
Polish
Long
Practice
Pens
Always
Lasts
Cast
Last
Casts
Deposit
Action
Till
Suspend
Given
Memory
Deposits
Writing
Ears
Mould

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Our toil is lessened, and our wealth is increased, by our dominion over the useful animals . . .
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According to the law of custom, and perhaps of reason, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman.
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The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.
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Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
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But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private interest.
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In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and manufactures, the middle ranks of inhabitants, who derive their subsistence from the dexterity or labour of their hands, are commonly the most prolific, the most useful, and, in that sense, the most respectable part of the community.
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History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past, for the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that honourable office if she condescended to plead the cause of tyrants, or to justify the maxims of persecution.
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It is the first care of a reformer to prevent any future reformation.
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Imam Hussain's sacrifice is for all groups and communities, an example of the path of rightousness.
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But the human character, however it may be exalted or depressed by a temporary enthusiasm, will return by degrees to its proper and natural level, and will resume those passions that seem the most adapted to its present condition.
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The monastic studies have tended, for the most part, to darken, rather than to dispel, the cloud of superstition.
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I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
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But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.
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Boethius might have been styled happy, if that precarious epithet could be safely applied before the last term of the life of man.
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The mathematics are distinguished by a particular privilege, that is, in the course of ages, they may always advance and can never recede.
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The active cavalry of Scythia is always followed, in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate number of spare horses, who may be occasionally used, either to redouble the speed, or to satisfy the hunger, of the barbarians. Many are the resources of courage and poverty.
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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.
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It is seldom that minds long exercised in business have formed any habits of conversing with themselves, and in the loss of power they principally regret the want of occupation.
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In the end, they wanted security more than they wanted freedom.
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A heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
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