Quotes, Aphorisms, Laws, and Thoughts

Six quotes by George Santayana

Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás (December 16, 1863, Madrid, Spain - September 26, 1952, Rome, Italy), was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States, wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters. Of his nearly 89 years, he spent 39 in the U.S. Santayana is perhaps best known as an aphorist, most famously for his oft-misquoted remark 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' (sometimes called Santayana's Law of Repetitive Consequences). Similarly, a quote of Santayana's: 'Only the dead have seen the end of war.' is often falsely attributed to Plato.

Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it. [+]

Fanaticism is redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim. [+]

Music is essentially useless, as life is. [+]

My atheism is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests. [+]

Only the Dead have seen the end of War. [+]

The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool. [+]

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