Quotes - George Santayana

Nothing is really so poor and melancholy as art that
is interested in itself and not in its subject.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952),
Life of Reason (1905) vol. 4, ch. 8

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and
the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler
and nobler that destiny is likely to be.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952),
"The German Mind: A Philosophical Diagnosis"

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952),
The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

Sanity is a madness put to good use.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Science is nothing but developed perception,
interpreted intent, common sense rounded out
and minutely articulated.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer: there is nobility in preserving it coolly and proudly through long youth, until at last, in the ripeness of instinct and discretion, it can be safely exchanged for fidelity and happiness.
- George Santayana (1863 - 1952)