Experience is a mere whiff or rumble, produced by enormously complex and ill-deciphered causes of experience; and in the other direction, experience is a mere peephole through which glimpses come down to us of eternal things. George Santayana More Quotes by George Santayana More Quotes From George Santayana 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. George Santayana recognition nasty mean To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil of love. George Santayana calling love war 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. George Santayana justice heaven world In this world we must either institute conventional forms of expression or else pretend that we have nothing to express; the choice lies between a mask and a figleaf. George Santayana choices expression lying Nietzsche said that the earth has been a madhouse long enough. Without contradicting him we might perhaps soften the expression, and say that philosophy has been long enough an asylum for enthusiasts. George Santayana philosophical expression philosophy Civilization is perhaps approaching one of those long winters that overtake it from time to time. Romantic Christendom - picturesque, passionate, unhappy episode - may be coming to an end. Such a catastrophe would be no reason for despair. George Santayana winter civilization long Nothing you can lose by dying is half as precious as the readiness to die, which is man's charter of nobility. George Santayana funeral dying men Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus that originally suggested them. George Santayana opinion comforting men The universe, as far as we can observe it, is a wonderful and immense engine.... If we dramatize its life and conceive its spirit, we are filled with wonder, terror and amusement, so magnificent is the spirit. George Santayana amusement spirit world Spirituality lies in regarding existence merely as a vehicle for contemplation, and contemplation merely a vehicle for joy. George Santayana spiritual joy lying I have no axe to grind; only my thoughts to burnish. George Santayana my-thoughts grind Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer. George Santayana surrender firsts thinking The spirit's foe in man has not been simplicity, but sophistication. George Santayana simple-life simplicity men The Universe, so far as we can observe it, is a wonderful and immense engine; its extent, its order, its beauty, its cruelty, makes it alike impressive. George Santayana space wonderful order The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men's minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them George Santayana mind men philosophy Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others, we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original experience which it purports to describe. George Santayana echoes memories past In a moving world readaptation is the price of longevity. George Santayana change world moving Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated. George Santayana common-sense perception science I believe in the possibility of happiness, if one cultivates intuition and outlives the grosser passions, including optimism. George Santayana passion happiness believe Any attempt to speak without speaking any particular language is not more hopeless than the attempt to have a religion that shall be no religion in particular.... Every living and healthy religion has a marked idiosyncrasy. Its power consists in its special and surprising message and the bias which that revelation gives to life. George Santayana healthy special giving
