--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Most men's conscience, habits, and…" description: "\"Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png" --- # Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed… ![“Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus that originally suggested them.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png) > “Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus that originally suggested them.” [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. Human thoughts and habits are largely shaped by societal norms, providing comfort but limiting originality. **In simple terms:** Society shapes our minds. Key Takeaway Question inherited beliefs. Themes conformity social influence habit comfort Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - education - workplace culture - political discourse Key Concepts philosophy psychology social theory Questions to Reflect On - What conventions do you accept without question? - How can you seek authentic viewpoints? A Different Perspective May suppress individuality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assurance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assurance/) [Borrowed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/borrowed/) [Comforting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comforting/) [Confidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confidence/) [Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscience/) [Consensus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consensus/) [Consensus Originally](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consensus-originally-3994079/) [Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions/) [Ethics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethics/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Men Conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-conscience-853707/) [Opinion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinion/) [Opinions Borrowed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinions-borrowed-3994080/) [Social](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social/) [Social Consensus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-consensus-2060901/) ## Related quotes > [A fitting external security environment could also play an important role in promoting social consensus and institutionalization towards democratization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/recep-tayyip-erdogan/a-fitting-external-security-environment-could-also-play-an-important/) [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/recep-tayyip-erdogan/) > [“If things are better for women there, it is due to a profound and enduring social consensus that life should be made livable based…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-warner/if-things-are-better-for-women-there-it-is-due-to-a-profound-and/) [Judith Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-warner/) > [In this context, social consensus, and institutions that embody this consensus, must be made effective in order for democratization not to be abused as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/recep-tayyip-erdogan/in-this-context-social-consensus-and-institutions-that-embody-this/) [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/recep-tayyip-erdogan/) > [Essentially we need a new social consensus for economic reform as New Labour has achieved in Britain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-mandelson/essentially-we-need-a-new-social-consensus-for-economic-reform-as-new/) [Peter Mandelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-mandelson/) > [We have the Annunciation, the Conception, the Birth and the Adoration, as described in the first and second chapters of Luke's gospel; and as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-sharpe/we-have-the-annunciation-the-conception-the-birth-and-the-adoration/) [Samuel Sharpe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-sharpe/) > [Behold, I am become a reproach to thy holy name, by serving any ambition and the sins of others; which though I did by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-laud/behold-i-am-become-a-reproach-to-thy-holy-name-by-serving-any/) [William Laud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-laud/) > [What most men call their conscience is imaginary virtue switching left or right according to self-interest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernon-howard/what-most-men-call-their-conscience-is-imaginary-virtue-switching/) [Vernon Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernon-howard/) > [Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/shame-arises-from-the-fear-of-men-conscience-from-the-fear-of-god/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“Throughout history, religious leaders and other honorable men of conscience have always warned against this shaming confusion. They remind us that the poor have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orhan-pamuk/throughout-history-religious-leaders-and-other-honorable-men-of/) [Orhan Pamuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orhan-pamuk/) > [“Men of conscience have got to join together, Jack. Or nothing is going to change.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-long/men-of-conscience-have-got-to-join-together-jack-or-nothing-is-going/) [Mark Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-long/) > [The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-g-white/the-greatest-want-of-the-world-is-the-want-of-men-men-who-will-not-be/) [Ellen G. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-g-white/) > [All men of conscience or prudence ply to windward, to maintain their wars to be defensive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-williams/all-men-of-conscience-or-prudence-ply-to-windward-to-maintain-their/) [Roger Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-williams/) > [“We need in this generation, as we have had them in the past, men of conscience, driven, even against their wills, certainly against their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-james-darling/we-need-in-this-generation-as-we-have-had-them-in-the-past-men-of/) [Sir James Darling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-james-darling/) > [Betrayal is common for men with no conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/betrayal-is-common-for-men-with-no-conscience/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [All our liberties are due to men who, when their conscience has compelled them, have broken the laws of the land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-kingdon-clifford/all-our-liberties-are-due-to-men-who-when-their-conscience-has/) [William Kingdon Clifford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-kingdon-clifford/) ## 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 Assurance quotes > [She had been dragged in the most humiliating of all dusts, the dust reserved for older women who let themselves be approached, on amorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/she-had-been-dragged-in-the-most-humiliating-of-all-dusts-the-dust/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [A wholesome regard for the memory of the great men of long ago is the best assurance to a people of a continuation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-coolidge/a-wholesome-regard-for-the-memory-of-the-great-men-of-long-ago-is-the/) [Calvin Coolidge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-coolidge/) > [How arrogant - how very far from humility - would be the self-satisfied, smug assurance that God, a tidy-up-after-us God will come and clean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-whitehouse/how-arrogant-how-very-far-from-humility-would-be-the-self-satisfied/) [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [When God overcomes our difficulties for us, we have the assurance that we are engaged in His work and not our own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-muller/when-god-overcomes-our-difficulties-for-us-we-have-the-assurance-that/) [George Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-muller/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There are believers who by God's grace, have climbed the mountains of full assurance and near communion, their place is with the eagle in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/there-are-believers-who-by-god-s-grace-have-climbed-the-mountains-of/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Everybody in the real world will agree - the moment a project is behind deadline, quality assurance tends to go out the window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cox/everybody-in-the-real-world-will-agree-the-moment-a-project-is-behind/) [Alan Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cox/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [We have a commitment to serve our Lord. We have an assurance that the cause is just and worthy. But, above all, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/we-have-a-commitment-to-serve-our-lord-we-have-an-assurance-that-the/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [“Out of all its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/out-of-all-its-squalor-and-human-decay-its-eruptions-of-butchery/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Do not rest, believer, until you have full assurance of your interest in Jesus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/do-not-rest-believer-until-you-have-full-assurance-of-your-interest/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Confidentially, the type of male I find most enjoyable for a friend is one who has enough fire and assurance to speak up for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-monroe/confidentially-the-type-of-male-i-find-most-enjoyable-for-a-friend-is/) [Marilyn Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-monroe/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Our assurance is anchored in the love and grace of God expressed in the glorious exchange: our sin for His righteousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tullian-tchividjian/our-assurance-is-anchored-in-the-love-and-grace-of-god-expressed-in/) [Tullian Tchividjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tullian-tchividjian/) [Browse all 557 Assurance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assurance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus that originally suggested them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinions-are-borrowed-from/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assurance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinions-are-borrowed-from/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c2c/george-santayana-478_assurance_most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinion_2070383.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting…” — 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": "Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinions-are-borrowed-from/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/most-men-s-conscience-habits-and-opinions-are-borrowed-from/#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 } } ] } ```