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
philosophy doubt belief
Philosophy begins when one learns to doubt -- particularly to doubt one's cherished beliefs, one's dogmas and one's axioms.
past men color
I have tried to be impartial, though I know that a man's past always colors his views, and that nothing else is so irritating as impartiality.
acceptance assumption snares
The great snare of thought is uncritical acceptance of irrational assumptions.
civilization stoic born
A civilization is born Stoic and dies Epicurean.
enemy born freedom-and-equality
Freedom and equality are naturan born enemies.
civilization soul dies
The soul of a civilization is its religion, and it dies with its faith.
ice age ice-age
Civilizaton is the interval between Ice Ages.
long poverty
As long as there is poverty there will be gods.
progress environment
Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
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 stoicism individual
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.
human-nature history-repeats-itself repeating-history
History repeats itself in the large because human nature changes with geological leisureliness.
philosophy philosophical civilization
A history of civilization shares the presumptuousness of every philosophical enterprise: it offers the ridiculous spectacle of a fragment expounding the whole. Like philosophy, such a venture has no rational excuse, and is at best but a brave stupidity; but let us hope that, like philosophy, it will always lure some rash spirits into its fatal depths.
tools rulers
To rulers religion, like almost everything else, is a tool of power.