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Durant insists that Ariel could finish their work alone; she is convinced that she "couldn't do it at all." Certainly the aphorisms that flow from Durant's pen give their work much of its flavor. "A nation is born Stoic, dies Epicurean," he has written. Or "nothing is new except arrangement"; "the world wisely prefers happiness to wisdom"; and, perhaps self-consciously, "literary immortality is but a moment in geological time."
Civilization, for the Durants, will end with the 18th century. "The pep is failing," explains Durant. "I would be unwise to attempt the magnificent 19th century on these depleted resources." Moments later, grinning puckishly, his optimism re-emerges. "I have promised Ariel," he says, "that when the job is finished I shall take her on a ten-year honeymoon—making sure, of course, to bring my crutches."