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Will Durant

Will Durant Quotes

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Famous Will Durant Quotes

“Every growing civilization is a scene of multiplying inequalities; the natural differences of human endowment unite with differences of opportunity to produce artificial differences of wealth and power; and where no laws or despots suppress these artificial inequalities they reach at last a bursting point where the poor have nothing to lose by violence, and the chaos of revolution levels men again into a community of destitution. ... Then the race for wealth, goods and power begins again, and the pyramid of ability takes form once more; under whatever laws may be enacted the abler man manages somehow to get the richer soil, the better place, the lion’s share; soon he is strong enough to dominate the state and rewrite or interpret the laws; and in time the inequality is as great as before.”

WealthPowerCivilizationInequalityRegulatory Capture
Book:Our Oriental Heritage
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“A life devoted to the acquisition of wealth is useless unless we know how to turn it into joy; and this is an art that requires culture and wisdom. A succession of sensual pursuits never satisfies for long; one must understand the ends of life as well as the art of acquiring means. "Men are a thousand times more intent on becoming rich than on acquiring culture, though it is quite certain that what a man is contributes more to his happiness than what he has”

WealthWealth Accumulation
Author:Will Durant
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“In progressive societies the concentration[of wealth] may reach a point where the strength of number in the many poor rivals the strength of ability in the few rich; then the unstable equilibrium generates a critical situation, which history has diversely met by legislation redistributing wealth or by revolution distributing poverty.”

MayWealthAbilityPoorNumbersSituationPovertyRichRevolutionMetsCriticalConcentrationProgressiveLegislationRivalsEquilibriumUnstableConcentration Of WealthProgressive Society
Book:The Lessons of History
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“We conclude that the concentration of wealth is natural and inevitable, and is periodically alleviated by violent or peaceable partial redistribution. In this view all economic history is the slow heartbeat of the social organism, a vast systole and diastole of concentrating wealth and compulsive redistribution.”

SocialNaturalWealthViewsEconomicViolentInevitableConcentrationOrganismsHeartbeatConcentratingConcentration Of WealthEconomic History
Book:The Lessons of History
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