Gibbon, Edward

English historian of Rome

wrote 5-volume history "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" 1776-1788

• "I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect."
• "History… is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."
• "The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful."
• "The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular."
• "The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators."