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
opportunity skills rich
by and large the poor have the same impulses as the rich, with only less opportunity or skill to implement them
civilization missing needs
Continue to express your dissent and your needs, but remember to remain civilized, for you will sorely miss civilization if it is sacrified in the turbulence of change.
harmony strife universal
To seek, beneath the universal strife, the hidden harmony of things.
doe individual mankind
The individual succumbs, but he does not die if he has left something to mankind.
husband divorce men
The laws that Charondas gave to Catana,... A man might divorce his wife, or a wife her husband, said Charondas, but then he or she must not marry anyone younger than the divorced mate.
liberty chaos dictatorship
When liberty exceeds intelligence, it begets chaos, which begets dictatorship.
art lying design
Art lies in conceiving and designing, not in the actual execution' - this was left for lesser minds.
happiness world
The world wisely prefers happiness to wisdom.
beautiful believe biblical
As to harmonizing the theory of evolution with the Biblical account of creation, I do not believe it can be done, and I do not see why it should be. The story of Genesis is beautiful, and profoundly significant as symbolism: there is no good reason to torture it into conformity with modern theory.
philosophy doubt belief
Philosophy begins when one learns to doubt -- particularly to doubt one's cherished beliefs, one's dogmas and one's axioms.
civilization missing turbulence
For you will sorely miss civilization if it is sacrificed in the turbulence of change.
peace unstable supremacy
Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power.
law concentration-of-wealth politics
The concentration of wealth is a natural result of this concentration of ability, and regularly recurs in history. The rate of concentration varies (other factors being equal) with the economic freedom permitted by morals and laws.
burning soil next
History seldom destroys that which does not deserve to die; and the burning of the tares makes for the next sowing a richer soil.