--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In unphilosophical minds any rare or…" description: "\"In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing excites wonder, while in philosophical minds the familiar excites wonder also.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png" --- # In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing… ![“In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing excites wonder, while in philosophical minds the familiar excites wonder also.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png) > “In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing excites wonder, while in philosophical minds the familiar excites wonder also.” [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. Both novelty and familiarity can spark wonder, showing that curiosity isn’t limited to the new. **In simple terms:** Wonder arises from new and familiar. Key Takeaway Cultivate curiosity. Themes wonder philosophy perception Mood contemplative inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - art appreciation - science discovery - travel - learning new skills Key Concepts aesthetics cognitive psychology experience Questions to Reflect On - What familiar thing excites you? - How can you find wonder in routine? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on novelty may ignore familiar joys. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Curiosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiosity/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Philosophical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophical/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Unexpected things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unexpected-things/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [She would consider each day a miracle - which indeed it is, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/she-would-consider-each-day-a-miracle-which-indeed-it-is-when-you/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [In a fight between two people whose names are put to them does not make sense to fight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/in-a-fight-between-two-people-whose-names-are-put-to-them-does-not/) Mak\_786 > [Instead of Regret it, your friend did not return the borrowed amount, you can thank the sensitivity of taxes that you know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/instead-of-regret-it-your-friend-did-not-return-the-borrowed-amount/) Mak\_786 > [Immediately before the impact of innovative new technologies but have damaging effects begin to appear after a long time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/immediately-before-the-impact-of-innovative-new-technologies-but-have/) Mak\_786 > [My dear one, the death is eagerly waiting for me on next step. I dont know about next three minutes that what will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohd-aariff-khan/my-dear-one-the-death-is-eagerly-waiting-for-me-on-next-step-i-dont/) [Mohd Aariff Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohd-aariff-khan/) > [“One of the most terrible losses man endures in his lifetime is not even noticed by most people, much less mourned. Which is astonishing,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-carroll/one-of-the-most-terrible-losses-man-endures-in-his-lifetime-is-not/) [Jonathan Carroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-carroll/) > [“The world is full of unexpected things. Even for people like us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariko-tamaki/the-world-is-full-of-unexpected-things-even-for-people-like-us/) [Mariko Tamaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariko-tamaki/) > [Life is nothing without unexpected things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/life-is-nothing-without-unexpected-things/) Mak\_786 > [We are just a difference! You see your horoscope every day! Ihad forgotten to write my horoscope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/we-are-just-a-difference-you-see-your-horoscope-every-day-ihad/) Mak\_786 > [Of all the unexpected things in contemporary literature, this is among the oddest: that kids have an inordinate appetite for very long, very tricky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-gopnik/of-all-the-unexpected-things-in-contemporary-literature-this-is-among/) [Adam Gopnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-gopnik/) > [Love and life are both important, but together! Different and does not use any of](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/love-and-life-are-both-important-but-together-different-and-does-not/) Mak\_786 > [Thinking to give up your food, (\_ I do not know how many people received food or not \_) sensitivity to the final climax…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/thinking-to-give-up-your-food-i-do-not-know-how-many-people-received/) Mak\_786 > [The Lamp light show Opposing sun and a disgruntled person are equal to explain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/the-lamp-light-show-opposing-sun-and-a-disgruntled-person-are-equal/) Mak\_786 > [Nobody knows, what will be happen, with his personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/nobody-knows-what-will-be-happen-with-his-personality/) Mak\_786 > [If Unexpected Things Are Happe the conditions of life.! First Of All, make Innerself Strong One To Come, Of Course; This is called self-confidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mak-786/if-unexpected-things-are-happe-the-conditions-of-life-first-of-all/) Mak\_786 ## 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 Curiosity quotes > [I'm a strange mixture of my mother's curiosity; my father, who grew up the son of the manse in a Presbyterian family, who had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rupert-murdoch/i-m-a-strange-mixture-of-my-mother-s-curiosity-my-father-who-grew-up/) [Rupert Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rupert-murdoch/) > [“Metal makes everything magical. Just ask a unicorn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sybrina-durant/metal-makes-everything-magical-just-ask-a-unicorn/) [Sybrina Durant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sybrina-durant/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [The four Cs of making dreams come true: Curiosity, Courage, Consistency, Confidence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-disney/the-four-cs-of-making-dreams-come-true-curiosity-courage-consistency/) [Walt Disney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-disney/) > [Curiosity Can Kill.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anison/curiosity-can-kill/) [Anison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anison/) > [“So curious you must be. Like little calves poking their heads through the fence with big eyes and a headful of curiosity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carew-papritz/so-curious-you-must-be-like-little-calves-poking-their-heads-through/) [Carew Papritz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carew-papritz/) > [ “\[T\]he question "What is everything?" has no meaning, even though it seems to be profound. \[...\] The point is, perhaps, that I am not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-watts/t-he-question-what-is-everything-has-no-meaning-even-though-it-seems/) [Alan W. Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-w-watts/) > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [Be curious not judge mental](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unknow/be-curious-not-judge-mental/) Unknow > [There is nothing so carking as the pangs of unsatisfied curiosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrude-atherton/there-is-nothing-so-carking-as-the-pangs-of-unsatisfied-curiosity/) [Gertrude Atherton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrude-atherton/) > [Curiosity is the essence of human existence. 'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'... I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/curiosity-is-the-essence-of-human-existence-who-are-we-where-are-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Sometimes curiosity is a poison, not only for those who drink it but for everyone around it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-norman-lippert/sometimes-curiosity-is-a-poison-not-only-for-those-who-drink-it-but/) [G. Norman Lippert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-norman-lippert/) > [As long as your curiosity is greater than your fear, you will move forward!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/as-long-as-your-curiosity-is-greater-than-your-fear-you-will-move/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it sure has earned a lot of people graduate degrees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robyn-irving/curiosity-may-have-killed-the-cat-but-it-sure-has-earned-a-lot-of/) Robyn Irving [Browse all 2,721 Curiosity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiosity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing excites wonder, while in philosophical minds the familiar excites wonder also.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-unexpected-thing-excites-wonder/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Curiosity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-unexpected-thing-excites-wonder/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/53a/george-santayana-478_curiosity_in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-une_1488359.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“In unphilosophical minds any rare or unexpected thing excites wonder, while in philosophical minds the…” — George Santayana", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "George Santayana", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "In unphilosophical minds any rare or...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-unexpected-thing-excites-wonder/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/in-unphilosophical-minds-any-rare-or-unexpected-thing-excites-wonder/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```