"At any moment a comet may come too close to the earth and set our little globe turning topsy-turvy in a hectic course, or choke its men and fleas with fumes or heat; or a fragment of the smiling sun may slip off tangentially–as some think our planet did a few astronomic moments ago–and fall upon us in a wild embrace ending all grief and pain. We accept these possibilities in our stride, and retort to the cosmos in the words of Pascal: 'When the universe has crushed him man will still be nobler than that which kills him, because he knows that he is dying, and of its victory the universe knows nothing. History is subject to geology. Every day the sea encroaches somewhere upon the land, or the land upon the sea; cities disappear under the water, and sunken cathedrals ring their melancholy bells. Mountains rise and fall in the rhythm of emergence and erosion; rivers swell and flood, or dry up, or change their course; valleys become deserts, and isthmuses becomes straits. To the geologic eye all the surface of the earth is a fluid form, and man moves upon it as insecurely as Peter walking on the waves to Christ." ( Will & Ariel Durant , Lessons of History, Chp. 2) This is beautiful and contains great wisdom. Will Durant also discusses geology and civilization in chapter one of Our Oriental Heritage (volume one of his magisterial Story of Civilization ). Here he says: "Civilization is an interlude between ice ages: at any time the current of glaciation may rise again, cover with ice and stone the works of man, and reduce life to some narrow segment of the earth. Or the demon of earthquake, by whose leave we build cities, may shrug his shoulders and consume us indifferently." I recommend to your attention Durant's Lessons of History . In it he sums up in 100 pages what he learned over forty years of writing the eleven volume Story of Civilization. Lessons is one of the most profound books I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

Morals are soon endowed with religious sanctions because mystery and supernaturalism lend a weight that can never attach to things empirically known and genetically understood; men are more easily ruled by imagination than by science. — Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization , Volume 1.56 We hope you will join us in The Imaginative Conservative community. The Imaginative Conservative is an on-line journal for those who seek the True, the Good and the Beautiful. We address culture, liberal learning, politics, political economy, literature, the arts and the American Republic in the tradition of Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Edmund Burke, Irving Babbitt, Wilhelm Roepke, Robert Nisbet, Richard Weaver, M.E. Bradford, Eric Voegelin, Christopher Dawson, Paul Elmer More and other leaders of Imaginative Conservatism. Some conservatives may look at the state of Western culture and the American Republic and see a huge dark cloud which seems ready to unleash a storm that may well wash away what we most treasure of our inherited ways. Others focus on the silver lining which may be found in the next generation of traditional conservatives who have been inspired by Dr. Kirk and his like. We hope that The Imaginative Conservative answers T.S. Eliot’s call to “redeem the time, redeem the dream.” The Imaginative Conservative offers to our families, our communities, and the Republic, a conservatism of hope, grace, charity, gratitude and prayer.

[caption id="attachment_14306" align="alignright" width="197"] Will Durant[/caption] A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential cause of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.— Caesar and Christ We hope you will join us in The Imaginative Conservative community. The Imaginative Conservative is an on-line journal for those who seek the True, the Good and the Beautiful. We address culture, liberal learning, politics, political economy, literature, the arts and the American Republic in the tradition of Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Edmund Burke, Irving Babbitt, Paul Elmer More, Wilhelm Roepke, Robert Nisbet, M.E. Bradford, Eric Voegelin, Christopher Dawson and other leaders of Imaginative Conservatism (Visit our Bookstore to find books by/about these men). We address a wide variety of major issues including: What is the essence of conservatism? What was the role of faith in the American Founding? Is liberal learning still possible in the modern academy? Should conservatives and libertarians be allies? What is the proper role for the American Republic in spreading ordered liberty to other cultures/nations? We have a great appreciation for the thought of Russell Kirk, T.S. Eliot, Irving Babbitt and Christopher Dawson, among other imaginative conservatives. However, some of us look at the state of Western culture and the American Republic and see a huge dark cloud which seems ready to unleash a storm that may well wash away what we most treasure of our inherited ways. Others focus on the silver lining which may be found in the next generation of traditional conservatives who have been inspired by Dr. Kirk and his like. We hope that The Imaginative Conservative answers T.S. Eliot’s call to “redeem the time, redeem the dream.” Books by Will Durant may be found <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=will+durant&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&field-p_n_condition-type=&p_n_feature_browse-bin=&field-age_range=&field-language=&field-dateop=During&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevanceexprank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here . Essays by Dr. Durant may be found here .

"At any moment a comet may come too close to the earth and set our little globe turning topsy-turvy in a hectic course, or choke its men and fleas with fumes or heat; or a fragment of the smiling sun may slip off tangentially–as some think our planet did a few astronomic moments ago–and fall upon us in a wild embrace ending all grief and pain. We accept these possibilities in our stride, and retort to the cosmos in the words of Pascal: 'When the universe has crushed him man will still be nobler than that which kills him, because he knows that he is dying, and of its victory the universe knows nothing.' History is subject to geology. Every day the sea encroaches somewhere upon the land, or the land upon the sea; cities disappear under the water, and sunken cathedrals ring their melancholy bells. Mountains rise and fall in the rhythm of emergence and erosion; rivers swell and flood, or dry up, or change their course; valleys become deserts, and isthmuses becomes straits. To the geologic eye all the surface of the earth is a fluid form, and man moves upon it as insecurely as Peter walking on the waves to Christ." (Will & Ariel Durant, Lessons of History, Chp. 2) This is beautiful and contains great wisdom. Will Durant also discusses geology and civilization in chapter one of Our Oriental Heritage (volume one of his magisterial Story of Civilization ). Here he says: "Civilization is an interlude between ice ages: at any time the current of glaciation may rise again, cover with ice and stone the works of man, and reduce life to some narrow segment of the earth. Or the demon of earthquake, by whose leave we build cities, may shrug his shoulders and consume us indifferently." The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politics as we approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now . The featured image is by SC National Guard, and is in the public domain.

Will Durant Archives ~ The Imaginative Conservative

On Natural Disasters

By W. Winston Elliott III|2020-01-08T13:15:27-06:00August 29th, 2017|Categories: Family, Featured, Will Durant|

“At any moment a comet may come too close to the earth and set our little globe turning topsy-turvy in a hectic course, or choke its men and fleas with fumes or heat; or a fragment of the smiling sun may slip off tangentially–as some think our planet did a few astronomic moments ago–and [...]

The Man Who Discovered Troy?

By Will Durant|2019-04-04T10:38:29-05:00January 2nd, 2017|Categories: Civilization, Family, Featured, History, Homer, Iliad, Will Durant|

In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann went to the Troad, the northwest corner of Asia Minor, and made up his mind, against all current scholarly opinion, that Priam’s Troy lay buried under the hill called Hissarlik… In the year 1822, a lad was born in Germany who was to turn the spade work of archeology into [...]

Do Not Try to Reform the World

By Will Durant|2020-01-08T13:16:55-06:00November 7th, 2016|Categories: Civilization, Family, Featured, Quotation, Will Durant|

It is foolish to take sides in disputes, or seek some other place or mode of living, or to envy the future or the past; all desire is delusion. Even life is an uncertain good; death not a certain evil; one should have no prejudices against either of them. Best of all is a calm [...]

An Ode to Great Books and a Beautiful Library

By W. Winston Elliott III|2019-06-06T18:33:35-05:00May 29th, 2016|Categories: Books, Essential, Featured, Libraries, Timeless Essays, W. Winston Elliott III, Will Durant, Wisdom|

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Will Durant and me as we contemplate bibliophilic exuberance. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher “If I were rich I would have many books, and I would pamper myself with bindings bright to the eye and soft to the touch, in paper generously [...]

The Imaginative Stimulus Indispensable to Life

By Will Durant|2020-01-08T13:18:01-06:00April 6th, 2016|Categories: Family, Featured, Imagination, Quotation, Will Durant|

“Saddest of all is a poem engraved upon a slab now in the Leyden Museum, and dating back to 2200 B.C. Carpe diem, it sings—snatch the day! […]

The Essential Diagnosis of Our Time

By Will Durant|2020-01-08T13:19:20-06:00February 3rd, 2016|Categories: Civilization, Family, Featured, Quotation, Religion, Will Durant|

This is the essential diagnosis of our time. It is not merely great wars that have plunged us into pessimism, much less the economic depression of these recent years; we have to do here with something far deeper than a temporary diminution of our wealth, or even the death of millions of men; it [...]

The Map of Human Character

By Will Durant|2019-06-06T03:43:12-05:00December 7th, 2015|Categories: Character, Civilization, Essential, Family, Featured, History, Timeless Essays, Will Durant, Wisdom|

(Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Will Durant as he examines the importance of history in human character.—W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher) “History” said Henry Ford, “is bunk.” As one who has written history for twenty-five years, and studied it for forty-five, I should largely agree with [...]

Chaos: The Gestating Principle of Civilization

By Will Durant|2020-01-08T13:20:12-06:00November 25th, 2015|Categories: Civilization, Family, Featured, Quotation, Will Durant|

A certain tension between religion and society marks the higher stages of every civilization. Religion begins by offering magical aid to harassed and bewildered men; it culminates by giving to a people that unity of morals and belief which seem so favorable to statesmanship and art; it ends by fighting suicidally in the lost cause of the [...]

Ruled by Imagination

By Will Durant|2020-01-08T13:21:00-06:00October 21st, 2015|Categories: Family, Featured, Imagination, Morality, Quotation, Will Durant|

Morals are soon endowed with religious sanctions because mystery and supernaturalism lend a weight that can never attach to things empirically known and genetically understood; men are more easily ruled by imagination than by science. — Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Volume 1.56 […]

Why Do We Love Plato?

By Will Durant|2019-10-30T12:32:53-05:00July 15th, 2015|Categories: Books, Family, Featured, Plato, Quotation, Will Durant|

Why do we love Plato? Because Plato himself was a lover: lover of comrades, lover of the intoxication of dialectical revelry, passionate seeker of the elusive reality behind thoughts and things. We love him for his unstinted energy, for the wild nomadic play of his fancy, for the joy which he found in life [...]

History: The Miracles of Memory and Tradition

By Will Durant|2019-10-30T14:16:07-05:00September 3rd, 2013|Categories: Family, Featured, History, Quotation, Will Durant, Wisdom|

The very excess of our present paganism may warrant some hope that it will not long endure; for usually excess generates its opposite. One of the most regular sequences in history is that a period of pagan license is followed by an age of puritan restraint and moral discipline. So the moral decay of [...]

The Fall of Rome

By Will Durant|2019-04-04T10:39:18-05:00November 7th, 2012|Categories: Family, Featured, Rome, Will Durant, Wisdom|

Will Durant A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential cause of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.—Caesar and Christ […]

On Natural Disasters

By Will Durant|2019-10-30T14:16:19-05:00October 30th, 2012|Categories: Family, Featured, Nature, W. Winston Elliott III, Will Durant|

“At any moment a comet may come too close to the earth and set our little globe turning topsy-turvy in a hectic course, or choke its men and fleas with fumes or heat; or a fragment of the smiling sun may slip off tangentially–as some think our planet did a few astronomic moments ago–and [...]

The Map of Human Character

By Will Durant|2019-10-30T12:33:13-05:00May 17th, 2012|Categories: Character, Family, Featured, History, Will Durant, Wisdom|

“History” said Henry Ford, “is bunk.” As one who has written history for twenty-five years, and studied it for forty-five, I should largely agree with the great engineer who put half the world on wheels. History as studied in schools—history as a dreary succession of dates and kings, of politics and wars, of the [...]