Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers the second, more personal and important, from himself. – Edward Gibbon
Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism. – Edward Gibbon
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature. – Edward Gibbon
I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being. – Edward Gibbon