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
mother race europe
India was the motherland of our race and Samskrit the mother of Europe 's languages...Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.
History is always repeating itself, but each time the price goes up.
ignorance desert mirages
Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.
men forever
Never put a man in the wrong. He will hold it against you forever.
business ideas diversity
The crossroads of trade are the meeting place of ideas, the attrition ground of rival customs and beliefs; diversities beget conflict, comparison, thought; superstitions cancel one another, and reason begins.
civilization stoic born
A civilization is born Stoic and dies Epicurean.
christian religious men
Can a civilization hold together if man abandons his faith in God?
dream war civilization
Does history warrant the conclusion that religion is necessary to morality - that a natural ethic is too weak to withstand the savagery that lurks under civilization and emerges in our dreams, crimes and wars? ... There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.
knowing interesting suffering
The most interesting thing in the world is another human being who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers.
self giving meaning-of-life
To give life a meaning, one must have a purpose larger than self.
religion atheism maintaining
There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.
drinking england germany
Drunkenness was in good repute in England till "Bloody Mary" frowned upon it; it remained popular in Germany. The French drank more stably, not being quite so cold.
order liberty hunger
When liberty destroys order the hunger for order will destroy liberty.
creativity originality arrangements
Nothing is new except arrangement.