Quotations from George Santayana, 1863-1952
- Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said.
The Sense of Beauty [1896], pt. IV, Expression- Beauty is a pledge of the possible conformity between the soul and nature, and consequently a ground of faith in the supremacy of the good.
The Sense of Beauty [1896], pt. IV, Expression- Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.
The Life of Reason [1905-1906], vol. I, Reason in Common Sense- That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions, and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions.
The Life of Reason [1905-1906], vol. I, Reason in Common Sense- Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.
The Life of Reason [1905-1906], vol. I, Reason in Common Sense- Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
The Life of Reason [1905-1906], vol. I, Reason in Common Sense- The highest form of vanity is love of fame.
The Life of Reason [1905-1906], vol. II, Reason in Society- Let a man once overcome his selfish terror at his own finitude, and his finitude is, in one sense, overcome.
The Ethics of Spinoza [1910], introduction- Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.
The Ethics of Spinoza [1910], introduction- Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.
The Ethics of Spinoza [1910], introduction- The Bible is literature, not dogma.
The Ethics of Spinoza [1910], introduction- England is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, anomalies, hobbies, and humors.
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies [1922]. The British Character- There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies [1922]. War Shrines- My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies [1922]. On My Friendly Critics- Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are.
Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies [1922]. On My Friendly Critics- The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.
Dialogues in Limbo [1926], ch. 3- Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace.
Dialogues in Limbo [1926], ch. 4
© All rights reserved