We stand in need of such reflections to comfort us for the loss of some illustrious characters, which in our eyes might have seemed the most worthy of the heavenly present. The names of Seneca, of the elder and the younger Pliny, of Tacitus, of Plutarch, of Galen, of the slave Epictetus, and of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, adorn the age in which they flourished, and exalt the dignity of human natures.
Edward GibbonExtreme distress, which unites the virtue of a free people, imbitters the factions of a declining monarchy.
Edward GibbonThe 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 GibbonThe monastic studies have tended, for the most part, to darken, rather than to dispel, the cloud of superstition.
Edward Gibbon