Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections) by Edward Gibbon
“every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race.”
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections), General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (Milman edition, Project Gutenberg text)
The hopeful last sentence of the General Observations, after Gibbon argues that the simple arts of life can never be lost.
Citation: "every age of the world has increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness, the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race." — Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Selections), General Observations on the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (Milman edition, Project Gutenberg text). (id gibbon-decline-and-fall-selections-q7)
Portrait: Edward Emily Gibbon, Joshua Reynolds, Public domain.
