Edward Gibbon Quotes about Writing

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It was Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall

It was Rome, on the fifteenth of October, 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.

Edward Gibbon

Fall, Writing, Rome

Memoirs of My Life ch. 6 (1796)

Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.

Edward Gibbon

Art, Book, Writing

Edward Gibbon (1814). “The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon: With Memoirs of His Life and Writings”, p.56

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

Edward Gibbon

Writing, Exercise, Choices

Edward Gibbon (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon: With Memoirs of His Life and Writing Composed by Himself, Illustrated from His Letters with Occasional Notes and Narrative”, p.92

It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.

Edward Gibbon

Memories, Writing, Practice

Edward Gibbon, John Holroyd Earl of Sheffield (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq: With Memoirs of His Life and Writings”, p.97

In old age the consolation of hope is reserved for the tenderness of parents, who commence a new life in their children, the faith of enthusiasts, who sing hallelujahs above the clouds; and the vanity of authors, who presume the immortality of their name and writings.

Edward Gibbon

Hope, Children, Writing

Edward Gibbon (1827). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon, 1”, p.258