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.

Durant contrasts the violent, headline-making events that dominate conventional historical narratives with the quieter, creative, and sustaining activities of ordinary life. The “stream” represents the dramatic current of wars, crimes, and political upheavals—what historians most often chronicle—while the “banks” symbolize the continuous work of building families, communities, arts, and everyday culture. His point is not that conflict is unreal, but that it is disproportionately emphasized, producing a distorted, pessimistic view of humanity. Civilization, he suggests, is primarily advanced and preserved by the unnoticed labors and affections of people living outside the spotlight of catastrophe.