1
In elective monarchies, the vacancy of the throne is a moment big with danger and mischief.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–88) ch. 3
2
History…is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–88) ch. 3.
3
Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation. [Footnote] By each of his concubines the younger Gordian left three or four children. His literary productions were by no means contemptible.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–88) ch. 7
4
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind.
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–88) ch. 14
5
In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.
of Comnenus
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776–88) ch. 48.
6
To the University of Oxford I acknowledge no obligation; and she will as cheerfully renounce me for a son, as I am willing to disclaim her for a mother. I spent fourteen months at Magdalen College: they proved the fourteen months the most idle and unprofitable of my whole life.
Memoirs of My Life
(1796) ch. 3
7
I sighed as a lover, I obeyed as a son.
Memoirs of My Life
(1796) ch. 4 n.
8
It was at Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefoot 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.
Memoirs of My Life
(1796) ch. 6 n.
9
My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the obscurity of a learned language.
parodied as "decent obscurity" in the Anti-Jacobin, 1797–8
Memoirs of My Life
(1796) ch. 8