Quotes by Will Durant

Education is the progressive realization of our ignorance.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Knowledge is the eye of the mind.

The purpose of education is to teach us to think, rather than to do.

A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.

Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.

The future will be the child of the past and the present, even if a rebellious child.

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.

The sexual relation must become a spiritual relation.

A great civilisation is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within.

Society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but it has an overwhelming passion for remembering the mistakes of others.

Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice.

Money is the most universal and most efficient system of mutual trust ever devised.

It is better to destroy one’s own errors than those of others.

The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even East vs. West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

Democracy is the will to cooperate in the things we know.

Quotes by Will Durant part 2

War is one of the most regrettable human activities.

The purpose of education is to teach us to discriminate between the things that matter and the petty inconveniences that distract us.

Culture is the name for what people are interested in, and cinema has always been very good at being interested in what people are interested in.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting, and doing 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 the story of what happened on the banks.

The measure of a civilization is the series of messages it sends to the children under its care. Civilizations have been overthrown throughout history by adopting educations designed to perpetuate themselves instead of teaching the value of self-government.

The loves and the appetites of a man are the best test of his character.

The role of the teacher is to create the conditions for invention rather than provide ready-made knowledge.

The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment. That’s all there ever is.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

A nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.

Socialism is the longest-detained reaction against the impact of laissez faire on modern industrial society.

Government is an illusion the governed should not encourage.

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within.

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.

The family is the nucleus of civilization.

The measure of a civilization is the series of messages it sends to the children under its care.

The deeper the ‘investigation’ of personality, the greater the opportunity for fiendish delight in pointing to certain physiological functions as the cause of most antisocial manifestations.

Man differs most from the lower animals in the series of his “no” answers to the questions that surround him.

I’m not disturbed by criticism without reason. Having been an alternate member of the human race since 1885, I have encountered literary critics before.

Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the soul and brain of man.

What man really wants is not a pilgrimage from cradle to grave but a welcome death.

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

Democracy has nothing to do with signs. It has to do with men.

Learning is the most beautiful gift of life. Always be open to it.

Books are the most enduring monuments of civilization.

The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even East vs. West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.

Our Knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.

Nations are born stoic and die epicurean.

Passion is potential. Drive is optional. Excellence is essential.

Democracy is the will to cooperate in the things we know.

War is one of the most regrettable human activities.

Analyzing humour is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.