The greatest question of our time is not communism vs. individualism, not Europe vs. America, not even the East vs. the West; it is whether men can bear to live without God.
Will DurantRead
Nature smiles at the union of freedom and equality in our utopias. For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote presents the idea that freedom and equality are inherently in conflict, suggesting that achieving one often undermines the other.
Will Durant's quote reflects on the complex relationship between freedom and equality, proposing that these two concepts cannot coexist harmoniously in a perfect society. It suggests that while utopian visions might advocate for both, in reality, elevating one principle can lead to the detriment of the other, implying that a true balance between the two is fraught with difficulties and contradictions.
Themes
FreedomEqualityUtopiaPhilosophyConflict
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about political ideologies, referencing this quote can illustrate the inherent tensions in achieving a balanced society.
More from Will Durant
All quotes βIf we have never been amazed by the very fact that we exist, we are squandering the greatest fact of all.
Will DurantRead
Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty.
Will DurantRead
If you wish to be loved, be modest; if you wish to be admired, be proud; if you wish both, combine external modesty with internal pride.
Will DurantRead
When liberty destroys order the hunger for order will destroy liberty.
Will DurantRead
Civilizations come and go; they conquer the earth and crumble into dust; but faith survives every desolation.
Will DurantRead
Similar quotes
to have faith is precisely to lose one's mind so as to win God.
Soren KierkegaardRead
For the current of our spiritual life creeds, rituals and channels that may thwart or help, according to their fixity or openness. When a symbol or spiritual idea becomes rigidly elaborate in its construction, it supplants the idea which it should support.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
A conception not reducible to the small change of daily experience is like a currency not exchangeable for articles of consumption; it is not a symbol, but a fraud.
George SantayanaRead
All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
She was in that highly-wrought state when the reasoning powers act with great rapidity: the state a man is in before a battle or a struggle, in danger, and at the decisive moments of life - those moments when a man shows once and for all what he is worth, that his past was not lived in vain but was a preparation for these moments.
Leo TolstoyRead
In Reformed theology, if God is not sovereign over the entire created order, then he is not sovereign at all. The term sovereignty too easily becomes a chimera. If God is not sovereign, then he is not God.
R. C. SproulRead