George Santayana Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old George Santayana quotes, George Santayana sayings, and George Santayana proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

Sanity is a madness put to good uses; waking life is a dream controlled. George Santayana
There is a kind of courtesy in skepticism. It would be an offense against polite conventions to press our doubts too far. George Santayana
The highest form of vanity is love of fame. George Santayana
Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited. George Santayana
Tyrants are seldom free; the cares and the instruments of their tyranny enslave them. George Santayana
Repetition is the only form of permanence that Nature can achieve. George Santayana
Truth is a jewel which should not be painted over; but it may be set to advantage and shown in a good light. George Santayana
The family is one of nature's masterpieces. George Santayana
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. George Santayana
Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are. George Santayana
Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect. George Santayana
Skepticism is a discipline fit to purify the mind of prejudice and render it all the more apt, when the time comes, to believe and to act wisely. George Santayana
To understand one's self is the classic form of consolation; to delude one's self is the romantic. George Santayana
Consciousness is a born hermit. George Santayana
It is not society's fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation. George Santayana
Words are weapons, and it is dangerous . . . to borrow them from the arsenal of the enemy. George Santayana
Wisdom comes by disillusionment. George Santayana
Theory helps us to bear our ignorance of fact. George Santayana
Profound skepticism is favorable to conventions, because it doubts that the criticism of conventions is any truer than they are. George Santayana
Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect. George Santayana
The primary use of conversation is to satisfy the impulse to talk. George Santayana
The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we see in the maniac, the miser, the drunkard or the ape. George Santayana
The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool. George Santayana
All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible. George Santayana
We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all that was humanly possible. George Santayana
The loftiest edifices need the deepest foundations. George Santayana
In the concert of nature it is hard to keep in tune with oneself if one is out of tune with everything else. George Santayana
To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood. George Santayana
Sanity is madness put to good use. George Santayana
Our occasional madness is less wonderful than our occasional sanity. George Santayana