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
Will Durant quotes about
clever good history lessons
One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.
adequate against flame hasty marriage mutual
I am not against hasty marriages, where a mutual flame is fanned by an adequate income.
art begins ends philosophy science
Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art
wedding men wife
The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that an old man has for his old wife.
men light fire
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.
transformation civilisation
Education is the transformation of civilisation
broken-heart truth minorities
Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.
song strong fall
Grow strong, my comrade … that you may stand Unshaken when I fall; that I may know The shattered fragments of my song will come At last to finer melody in you; That I may tell my heart that you begin Where passing I leave off, and fathom more.
liberty anarchy dies
As soon as liberty is complete it dies in anarchy.
history guessing prejudice
History is mostly guessing; the rest is prejudice.
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.
hatred may vices
Every vice was once a virtue, and may become respectable again, just as hatred becomes respectable in wartime.