Will(iam James) and Ariel Durant (1885-1981) (1898-1981) were well-known American authors.
Will first became famous with the publication of the Story of Philosophy, 1926. In 1932, he began publishing his eight volume work, Story of Civilization, which included Our Oriental Heritage; The Life of Greece; Caesar and Christ; The Age of Faith; and Rousseau and the Revolution, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968.
Their other works include: Philosophy and The Social Problem; Adventures in Genius; and On The Meaning of Life.
In Lessons of History (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1968), the Durants wrote:
<The greatest question of our time is not communism versus individualism, not even East versus West; it is whether man can live without God.> 1885WD001
<Religion and puritanism prevail in periods when the laws are feeble and morals must bear the burden of maintaining social order; skepticism and paganism progress as the rising power of law and government permits the decline of the church, the family, and morality...
In our time the strength of the state has united to relax faith and morals, and to allow paganism to resume its natural sway. Probably our excesses will bring another reaction; moral disorder may generate a religious revival; atheists may again (as in France after the debacle of 1870) send their children to Catholic schools to give them the discipline of religious belief. Hear the appeal of the agnostic Joseph Ernest Renan in 1866:
"Let us enjoy the liberty of the sons of God, but let us take care lest we become accomplices in the diminuation of virtue which would menace society if Christianity were to grow weak. What should we do without it?...
If Rationalism wishes to govern the world without regard to the religious needs of the soul, the experience of the French Revolution is there to teach us the consequences of such a blunder."> 1885WD002
<Does history warrant Renan's conclusion that religion is necessary to morality - that a natural ethic is too weak to withstand the savagery that lurks under civilization and emerges in our dreams, crimes, and wars?
Joseph de Maistre answered: "I do not know what the heart of a rascal may be, I know what is in the heart of an honest man, it is horrible."> 1885WD003
<There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion...
The United States, and some other nations, have divorced their governments from all churches, but they have had the help of religion in keeping social order.> 1885WD004
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1885WD001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968). Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), p. 225.
1885WD002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968), p. 50. Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), p. 229.
1885WD003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968), p. 50. Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), p. 229.
1885WD004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968).