Quotes by Will Durant

Civilization is not inherited; it is learned and earned by each generation.

Doubt everything. Find your own truth.

Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.

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

Civilization begins where chaos ends, but the tension between them is the engine of progress.

The pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong adventure, a quest with no final destination.

The future never just happens; it is created.

The mind is a garden; thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or weeds.

Civilization is not a garment to be worn, but a skill to be acquired.

Progress is the constant striving to reconcile what is with what could be.

We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.

Great art is the bridge between the artist and the world.

History is the terrain through which we must navigate to understand the present.

The greatest gift one generation can give another is wisdom born of experience.

The test of a civilization is not its census, but the kind of man the average citizen becomes.

The future is not a gift; it is an achievement.

To truly know the world, one must first understand themselves.

Hope is the oxygen of the human spirit; without it, we suffocate in the darkness of despair.

The present is the ever-moving shadow cast by the past. Learn from it, or be condemned to repeat it.

History is philosophy teaching by examples.

To understand life, study history. To live life, create history.

The greatest gift is not what we possess, but what we share.

The present is the ever-moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. Use it wisely.

To be interesting, be interested.

Patience is not passive waiting; it is active hoping.

A mind that is stretched by a new idea never returns to its original dimensions.

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to silence the whispers of discontent.

Great art picks up where nature ends.

The past illuminates the present, but it should not dictate the future.

Happiness is often the unexpected fruit of a life dedicated to something greater than oneself.

Civilization is a stream, not a stagnant pool. It requires constant renewal.

Art is nature expressed through a temperament.

To know history is to cease to be a child.

The greatest gift of education is the ability to distinguish truth from propaganda.

Progress is the injustice which each generation commits with regard to its predecessors.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

The future belongs to those who learn more than they earn.

The best argument is that which leaves the opponent with no resentment, only understanding.

Doubt is the acid that etches away certainty, leaving only the beauty of the question.

Civilization begins where chaos ends.

Civilization is not inherited; it is learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission falters, chaos returns.

Progress is the increasing control of mind over matter.

Civilization is not inherited; it is learned and earned by each generation anew.

History is the record of humanity's search for order amidst chaos.

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

To be clever is not enough; one must also be wise.

Progress is not a straight line; it is a spiral. We revisit the same problems, but ideally, at a higher level of understanding.

The greatest tragedy is not in failing, but in failing to try.

Beware the allure of simple answers to complex questions. The truth rarely lies in easy conclusions.

True understanding begins when we cease to judge and start to comprehend.