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Edward Gibbon
(27 Apr 1737 - 16 Jan 1794)
English historian known for his six-volume work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789).
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Science Quotes by Edward Gibbon (4 quotes)
[In addition to classical, literary and philosophical studies,] I devoured without much appetite the Elements of Algebra and Geometry…. From these serious and scientific pursuits I derived a maturity of judgement, a philosophic spirit, of more value than the sciences themselves…. I could extract and digest the nutritive particles of every species of litterary food.
— Edward Gibbon
In The Autobiographies of Edward Gibbon (1896), 235. [“litterary” is sic.]
Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.
— Edward Gibbon
In The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1841), Vol. 1, 33.
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. … in which his mind has expanded to its proper form and dimensions … in the voluntary labours. … the merit of spontaneous and solid industry.
— Edward Gibbon
In The Autobiographies of Edward Gibbon (1896), 231.
The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.
— Edward Gibbon
From Memoirs of My Life (1774), in Edward Gibbon and G.A. Bonnard (ed.) (1966), 188.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
