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George Santayana

George Santayana Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous George Santayana Quotes

“O world, thou choosest not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise, And on the inward vision close the eyes, But it is wisdom to believe the heart. Columbus found a world, and had no chart, Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; To trust the soul's invincible surmise Was all his science and his only art.”

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Book:The complete poems of George Santayana: a critical edition
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“In the Gospels, for instance, we sometimes find the kingdom of heaven illustrated by principles drawn from observation of this world rather than from an ideal conception of justice; ... They remind us that the God we are seeking is present and active, that he is the living God; they are doubtless necessary if we are to keep religion from passing into a mere idealism and God into the vanishing point of our thought and endeavour.”

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Author:George Santayana
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“Christianity persecuted, tortured, and burned. Like a hound it tracked the very scent of heresy. It kindled wars, and nursed furious hatreds and ambitions. It sanctified, quite like Mohammedism, extermination and tyranny. All this would have been impossible if, like Buddhism, it had looked only for peace and the liberation of souls. It looked beyond; it dreamt of infinite blisses and crowns it should be crowned with before an electrified universe and an applauding God... Buddhism had tried to quiet a sick world with anesthetics; Christianity sought to purge it with fire.”

IfsWorldShouldHas BeensWarSoulReligionUniverseChristianityFireImpossibleBuddhismMoralityQuietAmbitionHatredSickInfiniteTyrannyLiberationBlissCrownsBurnedScentHeresyFuriousPersecutedHoundsExterminationAnestheticsSick World
Author:George Santayana
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“Photography at first was asked to do nothing but embalm our best smiles for the benefit of our friends and our best clothes for the amusement of posterity. Neither thing lasts, and photography came as a welcome salve to keep those precious, if slightly ridiculous, things a little longer in the world.”

IfsWorldFirstsLittlesLastsBenefitsPhotographyClothesRidiculousWelcomeAmusementPosterityBest SmileRidiculous Things
Book:Animal Faith and Spiritual Life
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“If you prefer illusions to realities, it is only because all decent realities have eluded you and left you in the lurch; or else your contempt for the world is mere hypocrisy and funk.”

IfsWorldRealityLeftIllusionMereDecentHypocrisyContemptFunk
Book:The Works of George Santayana: Dialogues in limbo. Platonism and the spiritual life. A long way round to Nirvana. The prestige of the infinite. Ultimate religion
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“The aim of life is some way of living, as flexible and gentle as human nature; so that ambition may stoop to kindness, and philosophy to condor and humor. Neither prosperity nor empire nor heaven can be worth winning at the price of a virulent temper, bloody hands, an anguished spirit, and a vain hatred of the rest of the world.”

WorldWayLifeHumansMayPhilosophyHandsLife IsSpiritWinningHeavenKindnessHuman NatureAmbitionHatredAimProsperityVainGentleEmpiresTemperBloodyFlexibleStoopsAim Of LifeBloody Hands
Author:George Santayana
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“Happiness is impossible, and even inconceivable, to a mind without scope and without pause, a mind driven by craving, pleasure, or fear. To be happy, you must be reasonable, or you must be tamed. You must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world and what things in it can really serve you. To be happy, you must be wise.”

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Author:George Santayana
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“Sex endows the individual with a dumb and powerful instinct, which carries his body and soul continually towards another, makes it one of the dearest employments of his life to select and pursue a companion, and joins to possession the keenest pleasure, to rivalry the fiercest rage, and to solicitude an eternal melancholy. What more could be needed to suffuse the world with the deepest meaning and beauty?”

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Book:The Sense of Beauty
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“A buoyant and full-blooded soul has quick senses and miscellaneous sympathies: it changes with the changing world; and when not too much starved or thwarted by circumstances, it finds all things vivid and comic. Life is free play fundamentally and would like to be free play altogether.”

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Book:The Works of George Santayana: Soliloquies in England and Later soliloquies
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