Quotations by Author

George Santayana

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.

The muffled syllables that nature speaks, fill us with deeper longing for her word.

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

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

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

The family is one of nature's masterpieces.

A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.

Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.

Habit is stronger than reason.

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

Knowledge is not eating, and we cannot expect to devour and possess what we mean. Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace.

The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.

The highest form of vanity is love of fame.

The primary use of conversation is to satisfy the impulse to talk.

The Soul is the voice of the body's interests.

The wisest mind has something yet to learn.

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

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.