William James Durant (/dəˈrænt/; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for The Story of Philosophy (1924), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy".
He conceived of philosophy as total perspective, or, seeing things sub specie totius, a phrase inspired by Spinoza's sub specie aeternitatis. He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge, which had grown voluminous and become fragmented into esoteric specialties, and to vitalize it for contemporary application.
Will and Ariel Durant were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
Durant was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, of French-Canadian Catholic parents Joseph Durant and Mary Allard, who had been part of the Quebec emigration to the United States.
I'll be around,
No matter how
You treat me now
I'll be around from now on.
Your latest love
Can never last,
And when its past,
I'll be around when he's gone
Good-bye old friend,
And if you find a love like mine
Just now and then,
Drop me a line to say that you're fine
And when things go wrong
Perhaps you'll see
You're meant for me
So I'll be around when he's gone.
Good-bye old friend,
And if you find a love like mine
Just now and then,
Drop me a line to say that you're fine
And when things go wrong
Perhaps you'll see
You're meant for me