Quotes by George Santayana

A man is morally free when, in full possession of his living humanity, he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity.

A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.

Advertising is the modern substitute for argument; its function is to make the worse appear the better.

America is a young country with an old mentality.

Before he sets out, the traveler must possess fixed interests and facilities to be served by travel.

Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him.

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character.

Sanity is a madness put to good use.

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

Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.

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

The wisest mind has something yet to learn.

Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality.

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.

To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.

Why shouldn't things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go very well together.

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that destiny is likely to be.
("The German Mind: A Philosophical Diagnosis")

The young man who has not wept is a savage,
and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.
(Dialogues in Limbo (1925) ch. 3)

Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.
(Life of Reason (1905) vol. 1, ch. 10)

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim.
(Life of Reason (1905) vol. 1, Introduction)