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
character technology opportunity
The influence of geographic factors diminishes as technology grows. The character and contour of a terrain may offer opportunities for agriculture, mining, or trade, but only the imagination and initiative of leaders, and the hardy industry of followers, can transform the possibilities into fact...Man, not the earth, makes civilization.
conservative radical valuable
The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it.
men civilization earth
Man, not the earth, makes civilization.
character destiny personality
If you have character, endeavor, personality, courage and the capacity for concentrated labor, you will do what is your destiny – and, perhaps, even do it well.
trying pages fool
Only a fool would try to compress a hundred centuries into a hundred pages of hazardous conclusions. We proceed.
writing childhood quality
Mozart began his works in childhood and a childlike quality lurked in his compositions until it dawned on him that the Requiem he was writing for s a stranger was his own.
order knighthood chivalry
When his apprenticeship was finished (the candidate for Knighthood) was received into the Knightly Order by a ritual of sacramental awe...
infinity philosopher now-and-then
It is good a philosopher should remind himself, now and then, that he is a particle pontificating on infinity.
civilization order liberty
Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty and dies with chaos.
known pitching thin
When we scheduled these games, we thought we were going to have mid-week starters. If I had known we'd be this thin with our pitching staff, I wouldn't have scheduled these games.
confidence playing
We're going to get there. We're just not playing with any confidence right now. We got to get better and the only way we are going to get better is to keep playing.
tyrants today rebel
Today's rebel is tomorrow's tyrant.
men civilised
No man who is in a hurry is quite civilised.
past understanding action
The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding.