But [the Arabs'] friendship was venal, their faith inconstant, their enmity capricious: it was an easier task to … - Edward Gibbon

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Being honest, if I had a daughter I wouldn't want her listening to a Nicki Minaj CD until she was a certain age. Even when I meet my fans and they tell me they are 12, I cringe a little. I always say, 'Listen. I don't want you saying the bad words, put school first. '

Edward Gibbon

But [the Arabs'] friendship was venal, their faith inconstant, their enmity capricious: it was an easier task to excite than to disarm these roving barbarians; and, in the familiar intercourse of war, they learned to see, and to despise, the splendid weakness both of Rome and of Persia.

Capricious, Familiar, Friendship, Rome, War, Weakness

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