If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tiber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the...

It was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline that good soldier should dread his own officers far more than the enemy

Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.

Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.

History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.

War, in its fairest form, implies a perpetual violation of humanity and justice.

As long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters

The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow-citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at...

A state of scepticism and suspense may amuse a few inquisitive minds. But the practice of superstition is so congenial to the multitude, that if they are forcibly awakened, they still regret the loss of...

The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

Truth, naked, unblushing truth, the first virtue of all serious history, must be the sole recommendation of this personal narrative.

My early and invincible love of reading–I would not exchange for the treasures of India.

My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.

The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind