Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.

Gibbon’s aphorism treats hope not as naïve optimism but as a psychological necessity in a world marked by limitation, uncertainty, and suffering. By calling the human condition “imperfect,” the line assumes that disappointment and constraint are normal features of life; hope becomes the “best comfort” because it cushions those realities by projecting meaning or improvement into the future. The phrasing also implies a sober Enlightenment sensibility: we cannot perfect our condition, but we can endure it through an inner resource that sustains effort, patience, and resilience. The quote’s compactness gives it a moral tone—hope is presented as a virtue that steadies individuals amid historical and personal decline.