"It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The present is merely the past rolled up and concentrated in this second of time. You, too, are your past; often your face is your autobiography; you are what you are because of what you have been; because of your heredity stretching back into forgotten generations; because of every element of environment that has affected you, every man or woman that has met you, every book that you have read, every experience that you have had; all these are accumulated in your memory, your body, your character, your soul. So with a city, a country, and a race; it is its past, and cannot be understood without it."
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Academics from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesEducators from the United StatesSocialists from the United States
Original Language: English
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As quoted in "The Gentle Philosopher" (2006) by John Little at the Will Durant Foundation
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Durant
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Will Durant
William James Durant (5 November 1885 – 7 November 1981) was an American historian, philosopher and writer, best remembered for his works The Story of Philosophy, and The Story of Civilization.
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