It was Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Interpretation
The author reflects on the inspiration taken from historical ruins while contemplating the rise and fall of civilizations.
In this quote, Edward Gibbon describes the moment he was inspired to write 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' Surrounded by the remnants of ancient Rome, he connects the physical decay of the Capitol with the broader theme of decline in civilization, suggesting that reflection on history can lead to profound insights about the nature of empires and their eventual downfall.
In practice
This quote would be perfect for a history lecture discussing the impact of ancient civilizations.
I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on the recovery of my freedom, and, perhaps, the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future date of my History, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.
And the winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience.
In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome.
Many a sober Christian would rather admit that a wafer is God than that God is a cruel and capricious tyrant.
The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings.
Women enjoyed rights in Egypt they would not again enjoy for more than 2,000 years. They owned ships, ran vineyards, filed lawsuits, practiced medicine. Their husbands supported them after divorce. Their power was unprecedented.
It is true that not all the victims were Jews, but all the Jews were victims
American history is not something dead and over. It is always alive,always growing, always unfinished.
In the new Georgia, Stalin is no longer Georgian. He's a Russian emperor.
Our generation was born during the turmoil following the First World War. That war marked the dividing line - at least for the Western World - between the comfortable security of the 19th century and the instability and flux of our own time.
The Holocaust is a sacred subject. One should take off one's shoes when entering its domain, one should tremble each time one pronounces the word.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.