--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Profound skepticism is favorable to…" description: "\"Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/george-santayana-478_conventions_profound-skepticism-is-favorable-to-conv_438565.png" --- # Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because… ![“Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/george-santayana-478_conventions_profound-skepticism-is-favorable-to-conv_438565.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/george-santayana-478_conventions_profound-skepticism-is-favorable-to-conv_438565.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dfe/george-santayana-478_conventions_profound-skepticism-is-favorable-to-conv_438565.png) > “Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.” [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. Skepticism toward norms is valuable because it questions the assumed superiority of critiques over the norms themselves. **In simple terms:** Questioning conventions can be healthy. Key Takeaway Critically evaluate accepted standards. Themes skepticism convention critical thinking Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - academic discussion - policy formation - social reform Key Concepts philosophy epistemology normativity Questions to Reflect On - What conventions deserve questioning? - How to balance skepticism with constructive action? A Different Perspective Excessive doubt may lead to nihilism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions/) [Conventions Doubts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventions-doubts-3851112/) [Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism/) [Criticism Conventions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/criticism-conventions-3851113/) [Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubt/) [Doubts Criticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubts-criticism-3851114/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Profound Skepticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound-skepticism-858609/) [Skepticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skepticism/) [Skepticism Favorable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skepticism-favorable-3851111/) ## Related quotes > [Major problem for Black women, and all people of color, when we are challenged to oppose anti-Semitism, is our profound skepticism that white people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-smith/major-problem-for-black-women-and-all-people-of-color-when-we-are/) [Barbara Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-smith/) > [Liberalism regards all absolutes with profound skepticism, including both moral imperatives and final solutions... 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The reason why sensible people are as conventional as they can bear to be is that conventionality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/nobody-can-live-in-society-without-conventions-the-reason-why/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [ \[The Massachusetts constitution\] resembles the federal Constitution of 1787 more closely than any of the other revolutionary state constitutions. It was also drawn up… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-s-wood/the-massachusetts-constitution-resembles-the-federal-constitution-of/) [Gordon S. Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-s-wood/) > [ \[James\] Madison pointed out in the discussion of the constitutional debates - the constitutional convention - that democracy would be a danger. He used… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/james-madison-pointed-out-in-the-discussion-of-the-constitutional/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [All progress in literary style lies in the heroic resolve to cast aside accretions and exuberances, all the conventions of a past age that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/all-progress-in-literary-style-lies-in-the-heroic-resolve-to-cast/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) ## 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 Conventions quotes > [All progress in literary style lies in the heroic resolve to cast aside accretions and exuberances, all the conventions of a past age that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/havelock-ellis/all-progress-in-literary-style-lies-in-the-heroic-resolve-to-cast/) [Havelock Ellis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/havelock-ellis/) > [ \[James\] Madison pointed out in the discussion of the constitutional debates - the constitutional convention - that democracy would be a danger. 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The reason why sensible people are as conventional as they can bear to be is that conventionality…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/nobody-can-live-in-society-without-conventions-the-reason-why/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [I joked at our National Convention that our party was nominating a candidate for president who was charismatic, larger than life, memorable, so they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-pence/i-joked-at-our-national-convention-that-our-party-was-nominating-a/) [Mike Pence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-pence/) > [The President? Hmmm, I wonder who that might be? Could it be, perhaps, the sitting two-term incumbent of the same party holding its convention?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fallows/the-president-hmmm-i-wonder-who-that-might-be-could-it-be-perhaps-the/) [James Fallows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fallows/) > [The sophists were as a rule men who had traveled widely and seen different forms of government. Both conventions and local laws in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jostein-gaarder/the-sophists-were-as-a-rule-men-who-had-traveled-widely-and-seen/) [Jostein Gaarder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jostein-gaarder/) > [As so often, a political event involving Donald Trump looks like swinging wildly between melodrama and farce. The Republican National Convention in Cleveland has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-colvin/as-so-often-a-political-event-involving-donald-trump-looks-like/) [Mark Colvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-colvin/) > [Once we realized that there were these 25 invariable types - the class politician, the frigid popular girl, the kid who tags along behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-j-o-rourke/once-we-realized-that-there-were-these-25-invariable-types-the-class/) [P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [On the surface the avant garde as a whole seems united primarily in terms of what they are against: the rejection of social institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-d-innes/on-the-surface-the-avant-garde-as-a-whole-seems-united-primarily-in/) [C. D. 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The Patriots won the Super Bowl! Boston hosted its first national political convention! 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