574 Quotes by George Santayana

The truth properly means the sum of all true propositions, what omniscience would assert, the whole ideal system of qualities andrelations which the world has exemplified or will exemplify. The truth is all things seen under the form of eternity.

The same battle in the clouds will be known to the deaf only as lightning and to the blind only as thunder.

All the doctrines that have flourished in the world about immortality have hardly affected man's natural sentiment in the face of death.

Life is judged with all the blindness of life itself.

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.

The earth has music for those who listen.

Parents lend children their experience and a vicarious memory; children endow their parents with a vicarious immortality.

Uselessness is a fatal accusation to bring against any act which is done for its presumed utility, but those which are done for their own sake are their own justification.

Culture is on the horns of this dilemma: if profound and noble it must remain rare, if common it must become mean.