Will Durant Quotes - Page 2

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• There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.

  Will Durant

  Religion, Atheism, Example

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (2012). “The Lessons of History”, p.38, Simon and Schuster

  13 Copy quote

• Historically the belief in heaven and the belief in utopia are like compensatory buckets in a well: when one goes down the other comes up. When the classic religions decayed, communistic agitation rose in Athens (430 B.C.), and revolution began in Rome (133 B.C.); when these movements failed, resurrection faiths succeeded, culminating in Christianity; when, in our eighteenth century, Christian belief weakened, communism reappeared. In this perspective the future of religion is secure.

  Will Durant

  Christian, Rome, Perspective

  14 Copy quote

• Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.

  Will Durant

  Bitter, Gentle

  Will Durant (2012). “Story of Philosophy”, p.199, Simon and Schuster

  35 Copy quote

• Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again.

  Will Durant

  Civilization, History, Savages

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1968). “The lessons of history”, Simon & Schuster

  20 Copy quote

• The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionists are philosophers and saints.

  Will Durant

  Real, Character, Individuality

  "The Lessons of History". Book by Will Durant and Ariel Durant, 1968.

  44 Copy quote

• War is one of the constants of history, and it has not diminished with civilization or democracy.

  Will Durant

  War, Civilization, Democracy

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1968). “The Lessons of History”

  20 Copy quote

• The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.

  Will Durant

  Islamic, Order, Civilization

  "Story of Civilization Our Oriental Heritage". Book by Will Durant, 1935.

  70 Copy quote

• And last are the few whose delight is in meditation and understanding; who yearn not for goods, nor for victory, but for knowledge; who leave both market and battlefield to lose themselves in the quiet clarity of secluded thought; whose will is a light rather than a fire, whose haven is not power but truth: these are the men of wisdom, who stand aside unused by the world.

  Will Durant

  Men, Fire, Light

  Will Durant (2012). “Story of Philosophy”, p.29, Simon and Schuster

  20 Copy quote

• Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.

  Will Durant

  Rich

  Will Durant (2012). “Story of Philosophy”, p.26, Simon and Schuster

  15 Copy quote

• Knowledge is power but only wisdom is liberty.

  Will Durant

  Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding

  Will Durant (1929). “The Mansions of Philosophy: A Survey of Human Life and Destiny”, Garden City, N.Y. : Garden City Publishing Company

  36 Copy quote

• So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with scepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean.

  Will Durant

  Civilization, Stoicism, Pleasure

  55 Copy quote

• Science without philosophy, facts without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.

  Will Durant

  Philosophy, Giving, Perspective

  Will Durant (2012). “Story of Philosophy”, p.28, Simon and Schuster

  18 Copy quote

• 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.

  Will Durant

  Dream, War, Civilization

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (2012). “The Lessons of History”, p.38, Simon and Schuster

  39 Copy quote

• Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.

  Will Durant

  Order, Civilization, Liberty

  "The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers". Book by Will Durant, 1926.

  33 Copy quote

• Man is an emotional animal, occasionally rational; and through his feelings he can be deceived to his heart's content.

  Will Durant

  Heart, Animal, Men

  Will Durant (1929). “The Mansions of Philosophy: A Survey of Human Life and Destiny”, Garden City, N.Y. : Garden City Publishing Company

  43 Copy quote

• The great snare of thought is uncritical acceptance of irrational assumptions.

  Will Durant

  Acceptance, Assumption, Snares

  17 Copy quote

• Love one another. My final lesson of history is the same as that of Jesus.
  You may think that's a lot of lollipop but just try it. Love is the most practical thing in the world. If you take an attitude of love toward everybody you meet, you'll eventually get along.

  Will Durant

  Life, Jesus, Attitude

  "Durants on History from the Ages, with Love". Pam Proctor, Parade Magazine, August 6, 1978.

  51 Copy quote

• Philosophy begins when one learns to doubt -- particularly to doubt one's cherished beliefs, one's dogmas and one's axioms.

  Will Durant

  Philosophy, Doubt, Belief

  Will Durant (2012). “Story of Philosophy”, p.7, Simon and Schuster

  27 Copy quote

• A civilization is born Stoic and dies Epicurean.

  Will Durant

  Civilization, Stoic, Born

  11 Copy quote

• Education is the transmission of civilization.

  Will Durant

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1968). “The lessons of history”, Simon & Schuster

  27 Copy quote

• Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

  Will Durant

  Learning, Acceptance, Science

  Will Durant (2011). “The Age of Faith: The Story of Civilization”, p.1077, Simon and Schuster

  15 Copy quote

• Rome remained great as long as she had enemies who forced her to unity, vision, and heroism. When she had overcome them all she flourished for a moment and then began to die.

  Will Durant

  Rome, Long, Unity

  Will Durant (2011). “Caesar and Christ: The Story of Civilization”, p.50, Simon and Schuster

  8 Copy quote

• In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.

  Will Durant

  Stress, Discovery, Order

  15 Copy quote

• Freedom and equality are naturan born enemies.

  Will Durant

  Enemy, Born, Freedom And Equality

  12 Copy quote

• Tired mothers find that spanking takes less time than reasoning and penetrates sooner to the seat of the memory.

  Will Durant

  Mother, Memories, Tired

  33 Copy quote

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