will durant

“ You can't fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country. ”

“ Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies. ”

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

“ The most interesting thing in the world is another human being who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers. ”

“ Truth always originates in a minority of one, and every custom begins as a broken precedent. ”

“ The older Romans used temples as their banks, as we use banks as our temples. ”

“ So I should say that civilizations begin with religion and stoicism: they end with skepticism and unbelief, and the undisciplined pursuit of individual pleasure. A civilization is born stoic and dies epicurean. ”

“ Until our states become members of a large and effectively protective group they will continue to act like individuals and families in the hunting stage. ”

“ Sixty years ago I knew everything; now I know nothing; education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. ”

“ This is the tragedy of almost every civilizationthat its soul is in its faith, and seldom survives philosophy. ”