Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

George Santayana Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Dec 16, 1863
  • Died: Sep 26, 1952

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known as George Santayana, was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American, although he always kept a valid Spanish passport. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters. At the age of forty-eight, Santayana left his position at Harvard and returned to Europe permanently, never to return to the United States. His last wish was to be buried in the Spanish pantheon in Rome.

Santayana is known for famous sayings, such as "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it", or "Only the dead have seen the end of war." Santayana, like many philosophers since the late nineteenth century, was a naturalist, but he found profound meaning in literary writings and in religious ideas and texts. Santayana was a broad ranging cultural critic whose observations spanned many disciplines. He said that he stood in philosophy "exactly where [he stood] in daily life."

Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men. best

History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren't there. history

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. wisdom

The effort of art is to keep what is interesting in existence, to recreate it in the eternal. art

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. history

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness. happiness & knowledge

Only the dead have seen the end of the war. war

Parents lend children their experience and a vicarious memory children endow their parents with a vicarious immortality. experience

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character. happiness

The dreamer can know no truth, not even about his dream, except by awaking out of it. dreams & truth

The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas. education, experience & great

Graphic design is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, abnormality, hobbies and humors. design

To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the captain, and a positive crime in the statesman. positive & war

Society is like the air, necessary to breathe but insufficient to live on. society

The degree in which a poet's imagination dominates reality is, in the end, the exact measure of his importance and dignity. imagination

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring. nature

I believe in general in a dualism between facts and the ideas of those facts in human heads. science

Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace. courage & religion

Music is essentially useless, as is life. music

Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth. religion

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. death

To me, it seems a dreadful indignity to have a soul controlled by geography. patriotism

That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject. fear

The hunger for facile wisdom is the root of all false philosophy. wisdom

The passions grafted on wounded pride are the most inveterate they are green and vigorous in old age. age

Experience seems to most of us to lead to conclusions, but empiricism has sworn never to draw them. experience

For a man who has done his natural duty, death is as natural as sleep. death

Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are. intelligence

When men and women agree, it is only in their conclusions their reasons are always different. men & women

Never build your emotional life on the weaknesses of others. life

Wisdom comes by disillusionment. wisdom

One's friends are that part of the human race with which one can be human. friendship

The love of all-inclusiveness is as dangerous in philosophy as in art. art

The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have loved it. truth

Knowledge is recognition of something absent it is a salutation, not an embrace. knowledge

It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss volatile spirits prefer unhappiness. marriage & patience

The word experience is like a shrapnel shell, and bursts into a thousand meanings. experience

Friendship is almost always the union of a part of one mind with the part of another people are friends in spots. friendship

Music is a means of giving form to our inner feelings, without attaching them to events or objects in the world. music

An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world. art

Language is like money, without which specific relative values may well exist and be felt, but cannot be reduced to a common denominator. money

Friends are generally of the same sex, for when men and women agree, it is only in the conclusions their reasons are always different. women

Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine By which alone the mortal heart is led Unto the thinking of the thought divine. alone & faith

The family is one of nature's masterpieces. family & nature

Happiness is the only sanction of life where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. happiness

By nature's kindly disposition most questions which it is beyond a man's power to answer do not occur to him at all. nature & power

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