love make us poets, and the approach of death should make us philosophers. — George Santayana Approach Copy Share Image
Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality. — George Santayana Progress Copy Share Image
Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth. — George Santayana Military Copy Share Image
History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten. — George Santayana History Copy Share Image
Existence is a miracle, and, morally considered, a free gift from moment to moment. — George Santayana Existence 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
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
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
Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. — George Santayana Existence 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
The diseases which destroy a man are no less natural than the instincts which preserve him. — George Santayana Instincts 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
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 are not compelled in naturalism, or even in materialism, to ignore immaterial things; the point is that any immaterial things which… — George Santayana Action 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
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
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
“There was a distinct class of these gentlemen tramps, young men no longer young, who wouldn't settle down, who disliked polite society… — George Santayana Poetry 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
The profoundest affinities are those most readily felt, and though a thousand later considerations may overlay and override them, they remain a… — George Santayana Affinity 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
The love of all-inclusiveness is as dangerous in philosophy as in art. — George Santayana Art Copy Share Image
Wisdom lies in taking everything with good humor and a grain of salt. — George Santayana Comedy Copy Share Image
Philosophers are as jealous as woman; each wants a monopoly of praise. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Tyrants are seldom free; the cares and the instruments of their tyranny enslave them. — George Santayana Freedom Copy Share Image
The theater, for all its artifices, depicts life in a sense more truly than history. — George Santayana Actor Copy Share Image
Eloquence is a republican art, as conversation is an aristocratic one. — George Santayana Aristocratic Copy Share Image
The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Beautiful things, when taste is formed, are obviously and unaccountably beautiful. — George Santayana Beautiful Copy Share Image
The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again — George Santayana Copy Share Image
Society is like the air, necessary to breathe but insufficient to live on. — George Santayana Copy Share Image
