"History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." ― Edward Gibbon Topic(s): History More From Edward Gibbon "But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous." "Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism." "History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind." More In History "In college I had a weekend gig at a restaurant, a solo thing that was the best practice I could have ever had. That’s where I learned to coordinate my singing and my piano playing."― Norah Jones "I’m a hopeless mother; a hopeless wife; I have to try harder. I’m just a pathetic case history, really."― Siobhan Fahey "‘WASP’ is the only ethnic term that is in fact a term of class, apart from redneck, which is another word for the same group but who are in the lower social strata, so it’s inexplicably tied up with social standing and culture and history in a way that the other hyphenations just are not."― Christopher Hitchens