An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed … - Edward Gibbon

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The nature of the South is changing faster than the stereotypes are. Much of the South now looks like San Jose. Is it still southern?

Edward Gibbon

An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of Heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic.

Constantine, Heaven, History, Idle, Merit

Same Author Quotes

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

Arguing, Life And Love, Make, Mistake, Respect

The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and, as soon as time or accident and removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight. The story of the ruin is simple and obvious: and instead of inquiring why the Roman Empire was destroyed we should rather be surprised that it has subsisted for so long.

Cause, Decline, Greatness, Inevitable, Rome, Simple

In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.

Free, Give, Libertarian Party, Responsibility, Wisdom

A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness.

Character, Justice, Law, Nation, Obstinacy, Power

[Whole] generations may be swept away by the madness of kings in the space of a single hour.

Generations, Hour, Kings, Single, Space