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The South creates the civilizations, the North conquers them, ruins them, borrows from them, spreads them: this is one summary of history.

Will Durant

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Will Durant
Age: 96 †
Born: 1885
Born: November 5
Died: 1981
Died: November 7
Historian
Philosopher
Writer
North Adams
Massachusetts
William James Will Durant
William James Durant
History
Civilizations
Ruins
North
Conquer
Creates
Borrows
Spread
Conquers
South
Summary
Civilization
Spreads

More quotes by Will Durant

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Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power.
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Never put a man in the wrong. He will hold it against you forever.
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War is one of the constants of history, and it has not diminished with civilization or democracy.
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Sixty years ago I knew everything. Now I know nothing. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
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The political machine triumphs because it is a united minority acting against a divided majority.
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There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found flourishing somewhere in the present.
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Men decided that it was better to pay taxes than to fight among themselves better to pay tribute to one magnificent robber than to bribe them all.
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Often your face is your autobiography
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It may be true that you can't fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.
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A cat has a reputation to protect. If it had a halo, it would be worn cocked to one side.
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Tired mothers find that spanking takes less time than reasoning and penetrates sooner to the seat of the memory.
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When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near.
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There is no real philosophy until the mind turns around and examines itself.
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The victors called the revolution a triumph of liberty but now and then liberty in the slogans of the strong means freedom from restraint in the exploitation of the weak.
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As to harmonizing the theory of evolution with the Biblical account of creation, I do not believe it can be done, and I do not see why it should be. The story of Genesis is beautiful, and profoundly significant as symbolism: there is no good reason to torture it into conformity with modern theory.
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Christianity did not destroy paganism it adopted it.
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In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order.
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Who will dare to write a history of human goodness?
Will Durant
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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
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Bankers know that history is inflationary and that money is the last thing a wise man will hoard
Will Durant