To condemn spontaneous and delightful occupations because they are useless for self-preservation shows an uncritical prizing of life irrespective of its content. — George Santayana Career Copy Share Image
Spirituality lies in regarding existence merely as a vehicle for contemplation, and contemplation merely a vehicle for joy. — George Santayana Contemplation Copy Share Image
The traveller must be somebody and come from somewhere, so that his definite character and moral traditions may supply an organ and… — George Santayana Character Copy Share Image
The sophisticated concern about art sinks before a spontaneous love of reality, and I thank the photograph for being so transparent a… — George Santayana Art Copy Share Image
Art is the response to the demand for entertainment, for the stimulation of our senses and imagination, and truth enters into it… — George Santayana Art Copy Share Image
Nothing can be lower or more wholly instrumental than the substance and cause of all things. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Beauty as we feel it is something indescribebale, what it is or what it means can never be said. — George Santayana Beauty Copy Share Image
Words are weapons, and it is dangerous in speculation, as in politics, to borrow them from the arsenal of the enemy. — George Santayana Language Copy Share Image
“The difficulty, after having the experience to symbolize, lies only in having enough imagination to suspend it in a thought; and further… — George Santayana Adversity Copy Share Image
Philosophy is a more intense sort of experience than common life is, just as pure and subtle music, heard in retirement, is… — George Santayana Cities Copy Share Image
Each religion, so dear to those whose life it sanctifies, and fulfilling so necessary a function in the society that has adopted… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Love is a brilliant illustration of a principle everywhere discoverable: namely, that human reason lives by turning the friction of material forces… — George Santayana Brilliant Copy Share Image
There must ... be in our very nature a very radical and widespread tendency to observe beauty, and to value it. No… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Photography at first was asked to do nothing but embalm our best smiles for the benefit of our friends and our best… — George Santayana Amusement Copy Share Image
At best, the true philosopher can fulfil his mission very imperfectly, which is to pilot himself, or at most a few voluntary… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Religious doctrines would do well to withdraw their pretension to be dealing with matters of fact. That pretension is not only the… — George Santayana Atheism Copy Share Image
To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Artists have no less talents than ever, their taste, their vision, their sentiment are often interesting; they are mighty in their independence… — George Santayana Art Copy Share Image
Prayer is not a substitute for work; it is an effort to work further and be efficient beyond the range of one's… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. — George Santayana Existence Copy Share Image
Those who cannot remember the pastare condemned to repeat it. or: Those who have never heard of good system development practice are… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is… — George Santayana Contradiction Copy Share Image
Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
People who feel themselves to be exiles in this world are mightily inclined to believe themselves citizens of another. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
It is not society's fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Nothing is really so poor and melancholy as art that is interested in itself and not in its subject. — George Santayana Art Copy Share Image
Let a man once overcome his selfish terror at his own infinitude, and his infinitude is, in one sense, overcome. — George Santayana Man Copy Share Image
We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere. — George Santayana Contradiction Copy Share Image
“I stand in philosophy exactly where I stand in daily life; I should not be honest otherwise.” — George Santayana Daily life Copy Share Image
The diseases which destroy a man are no less natural than the instincts which preserve him. — George Santayana Instincts Copy Share Image
In this world we must either institute conventional forms of expression or else pretend that we have nothing to express; the choice… — George Santayana Choices Copy Share Image
If a man really knew himself he would utterly despise the ignorant notions others might form on a subject in which he… — George Santayana Copy Share Image
“The body must be loosely clad if the mind is to forget it and impetuously lead its own life.” — George Santayana Psychology Copy Share Image
“O WORLD, thou choosest not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise,. And on the inward vision close… — George Santayana Dreams Copy Share Image
Our character ... is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that… — George Santayana Army Copy Share Image
Music is essentially useless, as life is; but both have an ideal extension which lends utility to its conditions. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
A musical education is necessary for musical judgement. What most people relish is hardly music; it is rather a drowsy reverie relieved… — George Santayana Adventure Copy Share Image
It is veneer, rouge, aestheticism, art museums, new theaters, etc. that make America impotent. The good things are football, kindness, and jazz… — George Santayana America Copy Share Image
Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood. — George Santayana Accidents Copy Share Image
