Who really said it

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds

Q: Did Will Durant say "The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds"?

No. The line is credited to Will Durant across quote sites, almost always in the fuller form "…their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds." But no book, essay, speech, or letter is ever cited, and it does not appear on Wikiquote's extensive Durant page—not even among his misattributed lines. No primary Durant source could be found, so the attribution is unsupported; the true origin of the wording is unknown.

Not verified as Will Durant’s Will Durant 1885–1981 · American historian & philosopher

Disputed Rights unconfirmed

The line is credited to Will Durant across quote sites, almost always in the fuller form “…their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.” But no book, essay, speech, or letter is ever cited, and it does not appear on Wikiquote’s extensive Durant page—not even among his misattributed lines. No primary Durant source could be found, so the attribution is unsupported; the true origin of the wording is unknown.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds” Attributed to Will Durant, but unsupported — no primary source has been found in his work; origin of the wording unknown.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

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In context

Evoking the world of Will Durant — American historian & philosopher. Theme: "The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Popularly credited to: Will Durant (1885–1981)
Documented source: None located
Earliest trace: Quote-aggregator sites; no dated primary attestation

The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds.

The most common circulating form includes “or wishes”; the shorter “hopes or fears” variant is a later trimming. Neither wording has been tied to a specific Durant text.

Will Durant on Wikiquote (this line is absent)

How we verified this

The quote is attributed to Will Durant on Goodreads, which carries no source and notes its quotes are “not verified.”
It is repeated with the same bare byline on BrainyQuote and other aggregators—never with a book, page, or date.
It does not appear anywhere on Wikiquote’s Will Durant page, including its list of misattributed lines—a strong sign no primary source exists.
No Quote Investigator entry treats this line; its nearest study of a “rather die than think” quip is a different saying that never mentions Durant.

Because the exact wording cannot be tied to any specific published work—by Durant or anyone else—its first-publication date is unknown, so no copyright status can be asserted. It would be wrong to label an unsourced line “public domain.”

Fact-check

An unsupported attribution

This is a textbook “magnet-name” quote: a tidy aphorism attached to a respected thinker to lend it authority, with no source ever supplied.

Will Durant unsupported

Every attribution traces to quote-aggregator sites—Goodreads, BrainyQuote and the like—none of which names a book, essay, speech, or page. The line is also missing from Wikiquote’s Durant page.

No documented Durant text has been found containing this sentence, and no other author has been identified as its source; until a primary citation surfaces, treat the wording as of unknown origin rather than genuinely Durant’s.

Context

Why it mattered

The sentiment—that people reason backward from what they wish were true—is a genuinely old one in the literature on rationalization and public opinion, which is likely why the crisp Durant-branded version spreads so easily. But an idea being in the air is not evidence that a particular person coined a particular sentence.

On a provenance site the distinction matters: this line is plausible-sounding and widely shared, yet it rests on nothing more than repetition. That is exactly the profile of a fabricated or drifting attribution, and it should be labeled as unverified rather than passed along as fact.

Widely shared, endlessly attributed—and never once sourced.

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More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

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Will Durant — sourced quotationsen.wikiquote.org

Curated list of Durant’s documented and misattributed quotes; this line appears in neither.

“Would Rather Die Than Think”quoteinvestigator.com

Quote Investigator’s study of a related “thinking” quip—a different saying, and no Durant link.

Goodreads attribution (unsourced)www.goodreads.com

Community-added attribution to Durant with no citation; Goodreads flags such quotes as unverified.

BrainyQuote attributionwww.brainyquote.com

Aggregator page crediting Durant with no work or date given.

Works by Will Durantarchive.org

Searchable full texts of Durant’s books for readers wishing to test the attribution against his actual writing.

The author

About Will Durant

Will Durant

1885–1981 · American historian & philosopher

Will Durant was an American writer and historian best known for The Story of Philosophy (1926) and, with his wife Ariel, the eleven-volume The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), for which they shared the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Durant received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. His accessible, aphoristic prose has made him a frequent magnet for polished sayings he never actually published.

For writers & researchers

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Provenance

No primary source located. Earliest traceable attributions appear only on undated quote-aggregator websites (e.g., Goodreads, BrainyQuote), none citing a work by Will Durant.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears rather than with their minds’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-trouble-with-most-people-is-that-they-think-with-their