Will Durant Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• The health of nations is more important than the wealth of nations.

  Will Durant

  Health, Exercise, Important

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

  40 Copy quote

• As knowledge grew, fear decreased; men thought less of worshiping the unknown, and more of overcoming it.

  Will Durant

  Men, Overcoming, Grew

  Will Durant (1961). “Story of Philosophy”, p.82, Simon and Schuster

  14 Copy quote

• Can a civilization hold together if man abandons his faith in God?

  Will Durant

  Christian, Religious, Men

  9 Copy quote

• Communism is the opiate of the people.

  Will Durant

  People, Opiates, Communism

  11 Copy quote

• Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little on the last six thousand years.

  Will Durant

  Time, Years, Twenties

  8 Copy quote

• If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride.

  Will Durant

  Love, Pride, Wish

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

  9 Copy quote

• Tolerance grows only when faith loses certainty; certainty is murderous.

  Will Durant

  Tolerance, Certainty, Grows

  Will Durant (1950). “The Age of Faith: A History of Medieval Civilization -Christian, Islamic, and Judaic - from Constantine to Dante: A.D. 325-1300”

  10 Copy quote

• Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves; better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all.

  Will Durant

  Fighting, Men, Society

  Will Durant (2011). “Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization”, p.81, Simon and Schuster

  27 Copy quote

• Never mind your happiness; do your duty.

  Will Durant

  Happiness, Mind, Action

  Will Durant (1991). “The Story of Philosophy”, p.359, Simon and Schuster

  22 Copy quote

• Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation. Four elements constitute it: economic provision, political organization, moral tradition, and the pursuit of knowledge and the arts. It begins where chaos and insecurity end. For when fear is overcome, curiosity and constructiveness are free, and man passes by natural impulse towards the understanding and embellishment of life.

  Will Durant

  Art, Men, Order

  Will Durant (2011). “Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization”, p.55, Simon and Schuster

  12 Copy quote

• When liberty destroys order the hunger for order will destroy liberty.

  Will Durant

  Wisdom, Order, Liberty

  24 Copy quote

• Contentment is rare among men as it is natural among animals

  Will Durant

  Inspirational, Animal, Men

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1944). “The Story of Civilization: Caesar and Christ, a history of Roman civilization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. 325”

  9 Copy quote

• 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.

  Will Durant

  Knowing, Interesting, Suffering

  13 Copy quote

• by and large the poor have the same impulses as the rich, with only less opportunity or skill to implement them

  Will Durant

  Opportunity, Skills, Rich

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

  19 Copy quote

• The experience of the past lives little doubt that every economic system must sooner or later rely upon some form of the profit motive to stir individuals and groups to productivity. Substitutes like slavery, police supervision, or ideological enthusiasm prove too unproductive, too expensive, or too transient.

  Will Durant

  Past, Rely Upon, Police

  12 Copy quote

• There is no real philosophy until the mind turns around and examines itself.

  Will Durant

  Philosophy, Real, Mind

  18 Copy quote

• In progressive societies the concentration[of wealth] may reach a point where the strength of number in the many poor rivals the strength of ability in the few rich; then the unstable equilibrium generates a critical situation, which history has diversely met by legislation redistributing wealth or by revolution distributing poverty.

  Will Durant

  Concentration Of Wealth, Numbers, Progressive Society

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

  31 Copy quote

• To rulers religion, like almost everything else, is a tool of power.

  Will Durant

  Tools, Rulers

  Will Durant, Ariel Durant (1953). “The Renaissance: A History of Civilization in Italy from 1304-1576 A.D.”, p.410, Simon and Schuster

  20 Copy quote

• Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.

  Will Durant

  Love, Motivational, Faith

  10 Copy quote

• 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.

  Will Durant

  Civilization, Missing, Needs

  12 Copy quote

• Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.

  Will Durant

  Philosophy, Giving

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

  33 Copy quote

• 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.

  Will Durant

  Teacher, Garden, Curiosity

  14 Copy quote

• There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found flourishing somewhere in the present.

  Will Durant

  Past, Flourishing, Found

  Will Durant (2011). “Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization”, p.335, Simon and Schuster

  11 Copy quote

• Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

  Will Durant

  Change, Graduation, Education

  "Books: The Great Gadfly". "TIME" Magazine, October 8, 1965.

  40 Copy quote

• If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he is an unphilosophical anarchist, and thinks laws in his own case superfluous.

  Will Durant

  Men, Thinking, Law

  Will Durant (2011). “Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization”, p.77, Simon and Schuster

  16 Copy quote

Page 3 of 8

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin