George Santayana
George Santayana
Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Originally from Spain, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States from the age of eight and identified himself as an American, although he always kept a valid Spanish passport. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters. At the age of forty-eight, Santayana left his position at Harvard and returned to Europe...
NationalitySpanish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth16 December 1863
CityMadrid, Spain
CountrySpain
George Santayana quotes about
Catastrophes come when some dominant institution, swollen like a soap-bubble and still standing without foundations, suddenly crumbles at the touch of what may seem a word or idea, but is really some stronger material source.
Reason in my philosophy is only a harmony among irrational impulses.
To be bewitched is not to be saved, though all the magicians and aesthetes in the world should pronounce it to be so.
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colours of life in all their purity.
Uselessness is a fatal accusation to bring against any act which is done for its presumed utility, but those which are done for their own sake are their own justification.
Artists have no less talents than ever, their taste, their vision, their sentiment are often interesting; they are mighty in their independence and feeble only in their works.
Thought is essentially practical in the sense that but for thought no motion would be an action, no change a progress.
Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate.
Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body.
The traveller must be somebody and come from somewhere, so that his definite character and moral traditions may supply an organ and a point of comparison for his observations.
Existence is a miracle, and, morally considered, a free gift from moment to moment.
All spiritual interests are supported by animal life.
The same battle in the clouds will be known to the deaf only as lightning and to the blind only as thunder.
The Fates, like an absent-minded printer, seldom allow a single line to stand perfect and unmarred.