"Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle."

Politics

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on politics by Will Durant resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in politics is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Will Durant

William James Durant was an American historian and philosopher, best known for his eleven-volume work, The Story of Civilization, which contains and details the history of Eastern and Western civilizations. It was written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy".

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More by Will Durant

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

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"Bankers know that history is inflationary and that money is the last thing a wise man will hoard."

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"We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries."

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More about Politics

"A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail."

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"The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."

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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

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