Will Durant
Will Durant
William James "Will" Durantwas an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy, described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy"...
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 November 1885
teacher garden joy
Cultivate your garden… Do not depend upon teachers to educate you … follow your own bent, pursue your curiosity bravely, express yourself, make your own harmony… In the end, education, like happiness, is individual, and must come to us from life and from ourselves. There is no way; each pilgrim must make his own path. "Happiness," said Chamfort, "is not easily won; it is hard to find it in ourselves, and impossible to find it elsewhere.
knowledge knowledge-and-power liberty
Knowledge is power but only wisdom is liberty.
order liberty products
Liberty is a product of order.
forever knows repeats
Those who know nothing about history are doomed forever to repeat it.
art communication diplomats
To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.
civilization soul dies
The soul of a civilization is its religion, and it dies with its faith.
tools rulers
To rulers religion, like almost everything else, is a tool of power.
book eye night
If I were rich I would have many books, and I would pamper myself with bindings bright to the eye and soft to the touch, paper generously opaque, and type such as men designed when printing was very young. I would dress my gods in leather and gold, and burn candles of worship before them at night, and string their names like beads on a string.
secret bankers fluctuation
Perhaps it is one secret of their power that, having studied the fluctuations of prices, the [bankers] know that history is inflationary.
war struggle rome
A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.
inspirational life positive
Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day
bus glad rather road stay truth
I'm actually glad we're going on the road. We've done everything better on the road this year. I'd rather stay at home. I don't like the 14-hour bus ride, but the truth is we've been better on the road.
athletes playing trend
It will be more like linebackers than most of us look like now. That's the trend anyway, better athletes playing golf.
fight good hope last playing until waited
It was good to see some fight out of our team. We waited until the last inning to fight. We just have to come out here, keep playing and hope we get better.