George Santayana Quotes - Page 2

Each religion by the help of more or less myth which it takes more or less seriously proposes some method of fortifying the human soul and enabling it to make its peace with its destiny.

If a man really knew himself he would utterly despise the ignorant notions others might form on a subject in which he had such matchless opportunities for observation.

We need sometimes to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment at no matter what.

Science is nothing but developed perception interpreted intent common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

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

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

To knock a thing down especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle is a deep delight to the blood.

Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable what it is or what it means can never be said.

There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.

Progress far from consisting in change depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are content to repeat it.

Every real object must cease to be what it seemed and none could ever be what the whole soul desired.

The worship of power is an old religion.

The best men in all ages keep classic traditions alive.

Man is as full of potentiality as he is of impotence.

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

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

Life is not a spectacle or a feast it is a predicament.

A man's memory may almost become the art of continually varying and misrepresenting his past according to his interest in the present.

I believe in the possibility of happiness if one cultivates intuition and outlives the grosser passions including optimism.