Will Durant Quotes

Wars are caused by undefended wealth.

The principal cause of war is war itself.

It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result.

It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting anything by it;

War grows out of the desire of the individual to gain advantage at the expense of his fellow man.

Every nation is a band of robbers, who prey without restraint, or remorse, on their neighbors.

The ostensible causes of war among the Indians were like many of those of civilized nations; controversies about limits, violations of the rights of embassy, individual or national wrongs: And the real and latent reasons were generally the same; the enlargement of territory, the extension of dominion, the gratification of cupidity, and the acquisition of glory.

When old men decided to barter young men for pride and profit, the transaction was called war.

The condition of man... is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.

Human nature is such that people are born with a love of profit If they follow these inclinations, they will struggle and snatch from each other, and inclinations to defer or yield will die.

Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war between different nations.

Remember that politics, colonialism, imperialism and war also originate in the human brain.

Each generation seems to invent its own reasons for war.

Nations make wars; states make wars; and cultures make wars. We tend to conflate the three, but they are very different wars.

The only way to save our empires from the encroaching of the people is to engage in war, and thus substitute national passions for social aspirations.

The English people would never consent to go to war for a cause in which England was not manifestly interested.

In the nature of man we find three principle causes of quarrel. First, competition; second diffidence; thirdly, glory.

Capitalism carries in itself war, like clouds carry rain.

It is from the pride and ambition of rulers and the ignorance of the people that wars arise.

Let the natural process of war among nations smother the weak.

The most frequent reason why men desire to hurt each other, ariseth hence, that many men at the same time have an Appetite to the same thing; which yet very often they can neither enjoy in common, nor yet divide it.

War is capitalism with the gloves off …

The pursuit of self-interest, no matter how artfully it be managed, inevitably leads to war in the long run, and all the more inevitably when the management is artful than when it is crude.

Fascism believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism -- born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it

I don't think that humankind is worthy of trust when we can't let go of war, draw borders between neighboring countries, seek to become richer than others, find joy in defeating others at sports, and choose someone of the opposite gender based on their appearance.