Will Durant on civilization

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks.  Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.

~ Will Durant, The Story of Civilization (1935)