"The Decline and Fall is a memorial oration. It is, to boot, a sad, stupendous warning to the governing class. Here in the desolation of a thousand years of history lies proof of the destiny of states that depart from the maxims alike of the Roman Republic and of England's Glorious Revolution. Gibbon, soaked in the values of his order, taught its members what they already accepted. His entire history revolves around a formula, around three words, the contents of their social conscience. These words are virtue, wisdom, and power."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Politicians from EnglandHistorians from EnglandAcademics from EnglandNon-fiction authors from EnglandMonarchists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Lewis P. Curtis, ‘Gibbon's Paradise Lost’, in The Age of Johnson: Essays Presented to Chauncey Brewster Tinker (1949), p. 79
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Edward Gibbon
1737 – 1794
englischer Historiker und Schriftsteller
111 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Edward Gibbon →
Related Quotes
"[T]he last revolution of Paris appears to have convinced almost every body of the fatal consequences of Democratical …"
"My own choice has indeed transported me into a foreign land, but I am truly attached from interest and inclination to…"
"I cannot repress my indignation at the use of those foolish obsolete, odious, words Whig and Tory."
"Burke's book is a most admirable medication against the French disease, which has made too much progress even in this…"
"The primitive Church, which I have treated with some freedom, was itself at that time, an innovation, and I was attac…"
"Poor Burke is the most eloquent and rational madman that I ever knew. I love Fox's feelings, but I detest the politic…"
"[I]n this rage against slavery, in the numerous petitions against the Slave trade was there no leaven of new democrat…"
"I shuddered at Gray's motion, disliked the half-support of Fox, admired the firmness of Pitts declaration, and excuse…"
"Had the French improved their glorious opportunity to erect a free constitutional Monarchy on the ruins of arbitrary …"
"Louis had given and suffered every thing. The cruelty of the French was aggravated by ingratitude, and a life of inno…"