"... but I must reluctantly observe that two causes, the abbreviation of time, and the failure of hope, will always tinge with a browner shade the evening of life."
- Edward Gibbon
"Our work is the presentation of our capabilities."
"Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself."
"Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes."
"War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice."
"My early and invincible love of reading--I would not exchange for the treasures of India."
"Edward Gibbon, in his classic work on the fall of the Roman Empire, describes the Roman era's declension as a place where "bizarreness masqueraded as creativity."
"Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book. "
"Where error is irreparable, repentance is useless."
"All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance."