--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We crave support in vanity, as we do in…" description: "\"We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.\" — George Santayana" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png" --- # We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and… ![“We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.” quote by George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png) > “We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.” [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. People seek validation from vanity and religion alike, yet they rarely tolerate contradictions within those belief systems, revealing a double standard in acceptance. **In simple terms:** We accept vanity and religion but reject their contradictions. Key Takeaway Self‑esteem and faith are defended despite internal conflicts. Themes psychology belief hypocrisy self‑image Mood reflective critical Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - political ideology - celebrity culture - religious communities Key Concepts cognitive dissonance social conformity Practical Applications - encourage critical self‑reflection - promote open dialogue about inconsistencies Questions to Reflect On - Why do we tolerate contradictions in some domains but not others? - How does vanity influence moral judgments? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contradiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction/) [Contradictions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictions/) [Forgiving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/forgiving/) [Never forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/never-forgive/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Support](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/support/) [Vanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vanity/) ## Related quotes > [“If vanity were a religion, he’d be a fundamentalist.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rion-amilcar-scott/if-vanity-were-a-religion-he-d-be-a-fundamentalist/) [Rion Amilcar Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rion-amilcar-scott/) > [We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries more weight than our self-interest.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/we-probably-have-a-greater-love-for-those-we-support-than-for-those/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [Sadness at being caught, at the incontrovertibe knowledge that she will never forgive you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/junot-diaz/sadness-at-being-caught-at-the-incontrovertibe-knowledge-that-she/) [Junot Diaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/junot-diaz/) > [I grew up on network sitcoms. If those are gone when I'm 65 years old, I would never forgive myself for not stepping up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-harmon/i-grew-up-on-network-sitcoms-if-those-are-gone-when-i-m-65-years-old/) [Dan Harmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-harmon/) > [Women can never forgive me; they hate me, they feel that I am disarming them. I show them without their coquetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-degas/women-can-never-forgive-me-they-hate-me-they-feel-that-i-am-disarming/) [Edgar Degas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-degas/) > [No worries. They don’t scare me. (Devyn) All right, but if my brain matter ends up smeared against a wall, I’ll never forgive you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherrilyn-kenyon/no-worries-they-don-t-scare-me-devyn-all-right-but-if-my-brain-matter/) [Sherrilyn Kenyon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherrilyn-kenyon/) > [Life never forgives weaknesses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/life-never-forgives-weaknesses/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [I hate that word. It's return--a return to the millions of people who've never forgiven me for deserting the screen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-wilder/i-hate-that-word-it-s-return-a-return-to-the-millions-of-people-who/) [Billy Wilder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-wilder/) > [All men have parties and are pals who never let each other down. A pal can say terrible things which are forgotten the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tove-jansson/all-men-have-parties-and-are-pals-who-never-let-each-other-down-a-pal/) [Tove Jansson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tove-jansson/) > [Parents are never forgiven for not giving just the right response at the appropriate moment. Or, rather, there are particular times in the adolescent's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terri-e-apter/parents-are-never-forgiven-for-not-giving-just-the-right-response-at/) [Terri E Apter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terri-e-apter/) > [A stranger can see in an instant something in you that you might spend years learning about yourself. How awful we all are when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-elliott/a-stranger-can-see-in-an-instant-something-in-you-that-you-might/) [Stephen Elliott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-elliott/) > [Politicians can forgive almost anything in the way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/auberon-waugh/politicians-can-forgive-almost-anything-in-the-way-of-abuse-they-can/) [Auberon Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/auberon-waugh/) > [If somebody tells you 'History will never forgive you,' just laugh at him! Because when the history comes, you won't be here! The threat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/if-somebody-tells-you-history-will-never-forgive-you-just-laugh-at/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [My gramps died 4 years ago from a heart attack .. I came in late at the hospital because I was buying dope.. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yankit/my-gramps-died-4-years-ago-from-a-heart-attack-i-came-in-late-at-the/) [Yankit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yankit/) > [Forgive yourself for not being the richest, the thinnest, the tallest, the one with the best hair. Forgive yourself for not being the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/forgive-yourself-for-not-being-the-richest-the-thinnest-the-tallest/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) ## 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 Contradiction quotes > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/courage-is-almost-a-contradiction-in-terms-it-means-a-strong-desire/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/it-is-also-plausible-that-those-movements-with-the-greatest-inner/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [Contradictions in human character are one of its most consistent notes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/contradictions-in-human-character-are-one-of-its-most-consistent-notes/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) > [“The tiny features below, taken together with the gentle mass of Montblanc towering above them, the Vanoise glacier almost invisible in the shimmering distance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/the-tiny-features-below-taken-together-with-the-gentle-mass-of/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/i-m-a-skeptic-not-because-i-do-not-want-to-believe-but-because-i-want/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [There are evidently limits to the achievements of science; and there are irresolvable contradictions both between prosperity and virtue, and between happiness and ''the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/there-are-evidently-limits-to-the-achievements-of-science-and-there/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [To exist (in mathematics), said Henri Poincaré, is to be free from contradiction. But mere existence does not guarantee survival. To survive in mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kac/to-exist-in-mathematics-said-henri-poincar-is-to-be-free-from/) [Mark Kac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kac/) > [“In these creations, life and symbolic value are not in contradiction: they intensify each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/in-these-creations-life-and-symbolic-value-are-not-in-contradiction/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [I have never agreed with my other self wholly. The truth of the matter seems to lie between us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/i-have-never-agreed-with-my-other-self-wholly-the-truth-of-the-matter/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [“A truth is not necessary, because we negatively are not able to conceive the actual existence of the opposite thereof;but a truth is necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-dabney/a-truth-is-not-necessary-because-we-negatively-are-not-able-to/) R.L. Dabney > [The pictures that were coming from Vietnam were showing us what was really happening on the ground level. It was in contradiction to what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nachtwey/the-pictures-that-were-coming-from-vietnam-were-showing-us-what-was/) [James Nachtwey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nachtwey/) > [Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/here-i-encounter-the-most-popular-fallacy-of-our-times-it-is-not/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/that-the-sun-will-not-rise-tomorrow-is-no-less-intelligible-a/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [The reflection of nature in man's thought must be understood not lifelessly but in the eternal process of movement, the arising of contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/the-reflection-of-nature-in-man-s-thought-must-be-understood-not/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) [Browse all 1,263 Contradiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Santayana" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-religion-and-never-forgive/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contradiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-religion-and-never-forgive/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7af/george-santayana-478_contradiction_we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-r_110443.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.” — 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": "We crave support in vanity, as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-religion-and-never-forgive/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-religion-and-never-forgive/#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 } } ] } ```