Will Durant: Trending quotes (page 3)

“On the maturation of a woman* "She is a woman now, and not an idle girl, not a domestic ornament or a sexual convenience anymore."”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), VI - The Reformation (1957), p.g. 14

Girl

“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.”

Will Durant

The Lessons of History (1968)‎, p. 72 (co-authored with Ariel Durant)

“It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to the west, such gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all numerals and the decimal system.”

Will Durant

The Case for India (1931)

“Love one another. My final lesson of history is the same as that of Jesus.
You may think that's a lot of lollipop but just try it. Love is the most practical thing in the world. If you take an attitude of love toward everybody you meet, you'll eventually get along.”

Will Durant

When asked, at the age of 92, if he could summarize the lessons of history into a single sentence. As quoted in "Durants on History from the Ages, with Love," by Pam Proctor, Parade (6 August 1978) p. 12. Durant is quoting Jesus (from John 13:34) here, and might also be quoting Jiddu Krishnamurti: "Love is the most practical thing in the world. To love, to be kind, not to be greedy, not to be ambitious, not to be influenced by people but to think for yourself — these are all very practical things, and they will bring about a practical, happy society."

Love , World , History , Thinking

“Philosophy is a hypothetical interpretation of the unknown (as in metaphysics), or of the inexactly known (as in ethics or political philosophy); it is the front trench in the siege of truth.”

Will Durant book The Story of Philosophy

The Story of Philosophy (1926)

Truth

“Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India.”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), I - Our Oriental Heritage (1935)

“There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), III - Caesar and Christ (1944), Chapter 30, part 1, p. 652.

Hope , History , Success , Christ

“Rooted in freedom, bonded in the fellowship of danger, sharing everywhere a common human blood, we declare again that all men are brothers, and that mutual tolerance is the price of liberty.”

Will Durant

Declaration of INTERdependence (1945)

Men , Freedom

“When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near.”

Will Durant book The Story of Philosophy

The Story of Philosophy (1926)

“On young love* "Here is a fulfillment of long centuries of civilization and culture; here, in romantic love, more than the triumph of thought or the victories of power is the topmost reach of human beings."”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), VI - The Reformation (1957), p.g. 8

Love , Victory

“Power dements even more than it corrupts, lowering the guard of foresight and raising the haste of action.”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

As quoted in Midnight by Dean Koontz
The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), XI - The Age of Napoleon (1975)

“No man who is in a hurry is quite civilized.”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), II - Life of Greece (1939), Ch. XII : Work and Wealth in Athens, p. 277 http://books.google.com/books?id=l2wgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22no+man+who+is+in+a+hurry+is+quite+civilized%22&pg=PA277#v=onepage