Heroes of History

A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age

Will Durant


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Notes

compiled by John Little from a manuscript found after Durant's death


Woman had domesticated the sheep, the dog, the ass, and the pig; now she domesticated man. Man is woman's last domestic animal, only partially and reluctantly civilized.

  • p. 16 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Individuals became civilized when they were made secure by membership in an effectively protective communal group; states will become civilized when they are made secure by loyal membership in an effectively protective federated group.

  • p. 17 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Civilization is social order promoting cultural creation.

  • p. 18 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Wisdom can never be transmitted by words, only by example and experience.

  • p. 25 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

The first principle of good government is good example.

  • p. 26 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Revolution, like death and style, is the removal of rubbish, the surgery of the superfluous; it comes when many things are ready to die.

  • p. 32 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Only the Second World War made India politically free.

  • p. 39 (Simon & Schuster, 2001)