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 GibbonAn absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of Heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic.
Edward GibbonAccording to the law of custom, and perhaps of reason, foreign travel completes the education of an English gentleman.
Edward GibbonAs 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.
Edward Gibbon