--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: America is a young country with an old…" description: "\"America is a young country with an old mentality.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2eb/george-santayana-478_america_america-is-a-young-country-with-an-old-m_2898455.png" --- # America is a young country with an old mentality. ![“America is a young country with an old mentality.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2eb/george-santayana-478_america_america-is-a-young-country-with-an-old-m_2898455.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2eb/george-santayana-478_america_america-is-a-young-country-with-an-old-m_2898455.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2eb/george-santayana-478_america_america-is-a-young-country-with-an-old-m_2898455.png) > “America is a young country with an old mentality.” [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. America is youthful in its institutions but retains outdated mentalities from its past. **In simple terms:** Old mindset in a new nation. Key Takeaway Challenge entrenched beliefs. Themes culture history progress identity Mood critical hopeful Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - political discourse - education reform - media analysis Key Concepts national psyche tradition vs innovation social change Questions to Reflect On - What old mentalities persist today? - How can society foster fresh perspectives? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Mentality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mentality/) [Old men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-men/) [Patriotism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patriotism/) ## Related quotes > [“America is a young country, young and brash and prone to errors. Like teenagers. For all our inherent goodness, we’ve been cursed with bright,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heather-choate-davis/america-is-a-young-country-young-and-brash-and-prone-to-errors-like/) [Heather Choate Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heather-choate-davis/) > [It's easier to change a law than an age-old mentality. Deep down, many prejudices, many hostilities, many fears persist. But if we take a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dacia-maraini/it-s-easier-to-change-a-law-than-an-age-old-mentality-deep-down-many/) [Dacia Maraini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dacia-maraini/) > [I haven't changed my views much since I was about 12, really, I've just got a 12-year-old mentality.When I was in school I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowie/i-haven-t-changed-my-views-much-since-i-was-about-12-really-i-ve-just/) [David Bowie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowie/) > [It's all these young country bucks doing Skynyrd songs, which is pretty cool to us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-van-zant/it-s-all-these-young-country-bucks-doing-skynyrd-songs-which-is/) [Johnny Van Zant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-van-zant/) > [“It was another country. It was a country for the young, a country where you died before you got old.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-stiefvater/it-was-another-country-it-was-a-country-for-the-young-a-country-where/) [Maggie Stiefvater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-stiefvater/) > [ The past is nothing to \[the young\], not even another country as it is to the old, or even a nightmare as it is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/the-past-is-nothing-to-the-young-not-even-another-country-as-it-is-to/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [America's young people deserve more than a mediocre future - and we now have demonstrated proof that President Trump is building a path for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-kirk/america-s-young-people-deserve-more-than-a-mediocre-future-and-we-now/) [Charlie Kirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-kirk/) > [Throughout America's young history there has been a necessary tension between the individual and the group.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-evans/throughout-america-s-young-history-there-has-been-a-necessary-tension/) [Harold Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-evans/) > [“In America, the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefit of their inexperience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/in-america-the-young-are-always-ready-to-give-to-those-who-are-older/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [I did all the Chef Boyardee commercials, in America, when I was young.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-seymour/i-did-all-the-chef-boyardee-commercials-in-america-when-i-was-young/) [Jane Seymour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-seymour/) > [In America, the young are always ready to give to those older than themselves the full benefit of their inexperience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/in-america-the-young-are-always-ready-to-give-to-those-older-than/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/a-man-s-feet-must-be-planted-in-his-country-but-his-eyes-should/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [I began with small roles in successful movies like 'No Country For Old Men' by the Coen brothers; but it was 'The Last Exorcism'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caleb-landry-jones/i-began-with-small-roles-in-successful-movies-like-no-country-for-old/) [Caleb Landry Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caleb-landry-jones/) > [“I do so love to listen to the deep words of bold men, though I have precious few to add.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-b-ezzell/i-do-so-love-to-listen-to-the-deep-words-of-bold-men-though-i-have/) [K.B. Ezzell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-b-ezzell/) > [The old men of the village of Mahotière say that the Mistress of the Water is a mulatto woman. At midnight she comes out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-roumain/the-old-men-of-the-village-of-mahoti-re-say-that-the-mistress-of-the/) [Jacques Roumain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-roumain/) ## More by George Santayana > [Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/perhaps-the-universe-is-nothing-but-an-equilibrium-of-idiocies/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The combative instinct is a savage prompting by which one man's good is found in another's evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-combative-instinct-is-a-savage-prompting-by-which-one-man-s-good/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Sanctity and genius are as rebellious as vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/sanctity-and-genius-are-as-rebellious-as-vice/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/to-attempt-to-be-religious-without-practicing-a-specific-religion-is/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [“The contemporary world has turned its back on the attempt and even on the desire to live reasonably.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-contemporary-world-has-turned-its-back-on-the-attempt-and-even-on/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [The pride of the artisan in his art and its uses is pride in himself...It is in his skill and ability to make things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-pride-of-the-artisan-in-his-art-and-its-uses-is-pride-in-himself/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/if-pain-could-have-cured-us-we-should-long-ago-have-been-saved/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Towers in a modern town are a frill and a survival; they seem like the raised hands of the various churches, afraid of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/towers-in-a-modern-town-are-a-frill-and-a-survival-they-seem-like-the/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/wealth-religion-military-victory-have-more-rhetorical-than/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Whoever it was who searched the heavens with a telescope and found no God would not have found the human mind if he had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/whoever-it-was-who-searched-the-heavens-with-a-telescope-and-found-no/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/it-is-easier-to-make-a-saint-out-of-a-libertine-than-out-of-a-prig/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/experience-is-a-mere-whiff-or-rumble-produced-by-enormously-complex/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/miracles-are-propitious-accidents-the-natural-causes-of-which-are-too/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/memory-itself-is-an-internal-rumour-and-when-to-this-hearsay-within/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [Familiarity breeds contempt only when it breeds inattention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/familiarity-breeds-contempt-only-when-it-breeds-inattention/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) [Explore all 530 George Santayana quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) ## More America quotes > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [So here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want all our men and women in uniform to know: Because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/so-here-s-what-i-want-you-to-know-and-here-s-what-i-want-all-our-men/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Today, the world looks to America for leadership. And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/) [Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/) > [ I'll smoke, I'll cough, I'll get the tumors, I'll die, deal? Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. 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