Will Durant

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.

The laws that Charondas gave to Catana,... A man might divorce his wife, or a wife her husband, said Charondas, but then he or she must not marry anyone younger than the divorced mate.

The health of nations is more important than the wealth of nations.

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

Those who have suffered much become very bitter or very gentle.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing song.

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it.

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos.