So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with scepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean. Will Durant More Quotes by Will Durant More Quotes From Will Durant A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars. Will Durant rome struggle war Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day Will Durant positive inspirational life The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within. Will Durant islamic civilization order Does history warrant the conclusion that religion is necessary to morality - that a natural ethic is too weak to withstand the savagery that lurks under civilization and emerges in our dreams, crimes and wars? ... There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion. Will Durant dream war civilization To give life a meaning, one must have a purpose larger than self. Will Durant meaning-of-life self giving From barbarism to civilization requires a century; from civilization to barbarism needs but a day. Will Durant century civilization needs 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 individuality real character Science without philosophy, facts without perspective and valuation, cannot save us from havoc and despair. Science gives us knowledge, but only philosophy can give us wisdom. Will Durant perspective giving philosophy To rulers religion, like almost everything else, is a tool of power. Will Durant rulers tools In Constantinople, more Christians were slaughtered by Christians in the years 342-343 than by all the persecutions by pagans in the history of Rome. Will Durant rome religious christian When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near. Will Durant license dictatorship liberty India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all. Will Durant race mother philosophy Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle. Will Durant bitter gentle Love one another. My final lesson of history is the same as that of Jesus. Will Durant attitude life jesus History is always repeating itself, but each time the price goes up. Will Durant Sixty years ago I knew everything. Now I know nothing. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant ignorance discovery years To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves; let us be above such transparent egotism. If you can't say good and encouraging things, say nothing. Nothing is often a good thing to do, and always a clever thing to say. Will Durant speak clever way There have been only 268 of the past 3,421 years free of war. Will Durant war past years Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. Will Durant change education graduation If we have never been amazed by the very fact that we exist, we are squandering the greatest fact of all. Will Durant squandering amazed facts
