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
The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we see in the maniac, the miser, the drunkard or the ape.
To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography.
Tyrants are seldom free; the cares and the instruments of their tyranny enslave them.
It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.
Philosophers are very severe towards other philosophers because they expect too much.
The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.
Language is like money, without which specific relative values may well exist and be felt, but cannot be reduced to a common denominator.
There is no greater stupidity or meanness than to take uniformity for an ideal.
Eternal vigilance is the price of knowledge.
Nothing can be lower or more wholly instrumental than the substance and cause of all things.
Docility is the observable half of reason.
Existence is a miracle, and, morally considered, a free gift from moment to moment.
The same battle in the clouds will be known to the deaf only as lightning and to the blind only as thunder.