Will Durant (American historian/philosopher) and Swami Vivekananda on Indian Traditions

Will Durant (American historian/philosopher) and Swami Vivekananda on Indian Traditions
 

"Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient and modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another...But mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood..... Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows.

This, many other nations have taught; but "India" for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist... Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live....!"

~Swami Vivekananda

Tina ૐ Sadhwani ‎"Perhaps in return for conquest, arrogance and spoliation, "India" will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of the mature mind, the quiet content of the unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, a pacifying love for all living things."

~Will Durant (American historian/philosopher)