#history
65 quotes
“Science tells us how to heal and how to kill ; it reduces the death rate in retail and then kills us wholesale in war ; but only wisdom”
“The rise of philosophy, then, often heralds the decay of a civilization. Speculation begins with nature and begets naturalism; it passes to man”
“The invention and spread of contraceptives is the proximate cause of our changing morals . The old moral code restricted sexual experience to marriage, because copulation could not be effectively separated from parentage, and parentage could be made responsible only through marriage. But to”
“What is Civilization?”
“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. We Have a Right To Be Happy Today , commencement address at the Webb School of Claremont, California”
“The Gentle Philosopher”
“Durants on History from the Ages, with Love,”
“Teachers: The Essence of the Centuries”
“The Second Sexual Revolution”
“I felt more keenly than before the need of a philosophy that would do justice to the infinite vitality of nature . In the inexhaustible activity of the atom, in the endless resourcefulness of plants, in the teeming fertility of animals, in the hunger and movement of infants, in the laughter and play of children , in the love and devotion of youth, in the restless ambition of fathers and the lifelong sacrifice of mothers, in the undiscourageable researches of scientists and the sufferings of genius , in the crucifixion of prophets and the martyrdom of saints”
“Experience is the teacher of all things.”
“Men willingly believe what they wish to be true.”
“The die is cast.”
“The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.”
“The working class has nothing to lose but its chains.”
“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”
“History is written by those who make it.”
“The struggle for freedom is the struggle of all humanity.”
“To understand the world, you must first see it with your own eyes.”
“The truth is revolutionary.”
“I have seen the future, and it works.”
“The revolution is the only true expression of the people's will.”
“Journalism is the first draft of history.”
“Freedom is the highest state of mind.”
“The courage of the truth is the first condition of philosophical study.”
“The totality is the true.”
“To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great.”
“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.”
“Education is the art of making man ethical.”
“What is reasonable is real; what is real is reasonable.”
“The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.”
“Truth is found in the whole, not in the part.”
“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
“Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.”
“The queen of Scots is this day lighter of a fair son, and I am but a barren stock.”
“All my possessions for a moment of time.”
“I would rather be a beggar and single than a queen and married.”
“Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my crown: that I have reigned with your loves.”
“A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing.”
“The past cannot be cured.”
“There is no marvel in a woman learning to speak, but there would be a marvel in a man learning to hold his tongue.”
“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.”
“To be a king and wear a crown is a thing more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasant to them that bear it.”
“He who does not know how to dissimulate, knows not how to reign.”
“We must be friends or enemies. Which will it be?”
“Practice is the best of all instructors.”
“In the end, when it is over, all that matters is what you have done.”
“How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.”
“Remember upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”
“There are no more worlds to conquer.”
“I would rather live a short life of glory than a long life of obscurity.”
“A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.”
“Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor earth two masters.”
“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.”
“Now you fear punishment and beg for your lives, so I will let you free, if not for any other reason so that you can see the difference between a Greek king and a barbarian tyrant, so do not expect to suffer any harm from me. A king does not kill messengers . As quoted in the Historia Alexandri Magni of Pseudo”
“Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Hellenic Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians... and of all the Hellenic peoples, join your fellow”
“If I were Alexander, I would accept the terms”
“Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Hellas [Greece] and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed leader of the Greeks, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you. Alexander's letter to Persian king Darius III of Persia in response to a truce plea, as quoted in Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian ; translated as Anabasis of Alexander by P. A. Brunt, for the "Loeb Edition" Book II 14, 4”
“Our enemies are Medes and Persians, men who for centuries have lived soft and luxurious lives; we of Macedon for generations past have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves. There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service”
“I do not steal victory. Reply to the suggestion by Parmenion , before the Battle of Gaugamela , that he attack the Persian camp during the night, reported in Life of Alexander by Plutarch , as quoted in A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great (1900) by John Bagnell Bury”
“On the Fortune of Alexander”
“Holy shadows of the dead, I'm not to blame for your cruel and bitter fate, but the accursed rivalry which brought sister nations and brother people, to fight one another. I do not feel happy for this victory of mine. On the contrary, I would be glad, brothers, if I had all of you standing here next to me, since we are united by the same language, the same blood and the same visions . Addressing the dead Hellenes (the Athenean and Thebean Greeks) of the Battle of Chaeronea , as quoted in Historiae Alexandri Magni by Quintus Curtius Rufus”
“Demosthenes and Cicero. Alexander and Caesar”
“What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of address and boldness to manage him! ... I could manage this horse better than others do. Statement upon seeing Bucephalas being led away as useless and beyond training, as quoted in Lives by Plutarch , as translated by Arthur Hugh Clough”