Will Durant

Will Durant

26 quotes

American historian, philosopher and writer Will Durant has a gift for language that makes complex ideas feel instantly clear. Celebrated for his eleven-volume work, The Story of Civilization, which contains and details the history of Eastern and Western civilizations, Will Durant brought that same intensity to the written and spoken word. Discover 32 of Will Durant's most memorable quotes, ranging across Knowledge, History, Freedom, Education, and Science. To get a sense of their style, try: "Bankers know that history is inflationary and that money is the last thing a wise man will hoard."

“The family is the nucleus of civilization.”

— Will Durant

Family

All Quotes by Will Durant

“History is mostly guessing the rest is prejudice.”

— Will Durant

History

“Civilization is the order and freedom is promoting cultural activity.”

— Will Durant

Freedom

“Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle.”

— Will Durant

Government

“Bankers know that history is inflationary and that money is the last thing a wise man will hoard.”

— Will Durant

History

“Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent.”

— Will Durant

Truth

“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”

— Will Durant

Change

“Moral codes adjust themselves to environmental conditions.”

— Will Durant

Environmental

“Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom.”

— Will Durant

Knowledge

“There is nothing in socialism that a little age or a little money will not cure.”

— Will Durant

Age

“Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul.”

— Will Durant

Knowledge

“Nature has never read the Declaration of Independence. It continues to make us unequal.”

— Will Durant

Nature

“Education is the transmission of civilization.”

— Will Durant

Education

“One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.”

— Will Durant

History

“We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries.”

— Will Durant

Best

“There have been only 268 of the past 3,421 years free of war.”

— Will Durant

War

“To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves. Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say.”

— Will Durant

Good

“To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.”

— Will Durant

Art

“Sixty years ago I knew everything now I know nothing education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.”

— Will Durant

Education

“Our knowledge is a receding mirage in an expanding desert of ignorance.”

— Will Durant

Knowledge

“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.”

— Will Durant

Education