This book is about Will Durant, at the highest point of wisdom in his life, sharing his thoughts on different valuable topics. It doesn’t get better than that.
I’d recommend starting with his other books. Either The Lessons of History or The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time. Reading those first will give you context on why is it that this book, Fallen Leaves, is so valuable.
And then, if you are as crazy as I am, you can go deeper by reading his 11-book series on civilization.
He probably read thousands of books. And wrote several great ones. If you are curious about history and attaining wisdom, studying Will Durant is a good idea.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 4/5
Mindset: 5/5
Some of My Highlights:
“For the rest he learns by imitation, though his parents think he learns by sermons.”
“Childhood may be defined as the age of play; therefore some children are never young, and some adults are never old.”
“The tragedy of life is that it gives us wisdom only when it has stolen youth.”
“To be busy is the secret of grace, and half the secret of content. Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them.”
“…and we should never be so old as merely to watch games instead of playing them.”
“Every philosopher, like Plato, should be an athlete; if he is not, let us suspect his philosophy.”
“‘The first requisite of a gentleman,’ said Nietzsche. ‘is to be a perfect animal.'”
“Youth, if it were wise, would cherish love beyond all thing else…”
“Wisdom, if it were young, would cherish love…”
“Hence it is in work and parentage that middle age finds its fulfillment and its happiness.”
“Perhaps here in the child, where one never thought to seek it, is the center of life, and the secret of content?”
“If we were to live forever, growth would be stifled and youth would find no room on the earth. Death, like style, is the renewal of rubbish, the circumcision of the superfluous.”
“The individual dies, but life, tireless and undiscourageable, goes on, wondering, longing, planning, trying, mounting, longing.”
“By mind I mean the totality of perceptions, memories, and ideas in an organism, sometimes with consciousness thereof.”
“By the soul, as distinct from the mind, I mean an inner directive and energizing force in every body, and in every cell and organ of a body.”
“Will is desire expressed in ideas that become actions unless impeded by contrary or substitute desires and ideas. Character is the sum of our desires, fears, propensities, habits, abilities, and ideas.”
“Delayed reaction allows time for every important aspect of a situation to enter consciousness and to arouse a reply; in this way, response can be intelligent and adequate.”
“Desire, not experience, is the essence of life; experience becomes the tool of desire in the enlightenment of mind and the pursuit of ends.”
“When death comes in due time, after a life fully lived, it is forgivable and good. If in my last gasps I say anything contrary to this bravado, pay no attention to me. We must make room for our children.”
“Periodically, in history, man’s conception of God changes as man’s knowledge and moral sense improve; and these epochal transvaluations can upset not only philosophers and saints but also whole nations and eras.”
“Life itself can be the new God.”
“Heaven and hell remain for me not places in another world, but states of mind often associated with virtue and vice in this life…”