George Santayana Quotes on Knowledge
George Santayana was a Spanish-born American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. This page collects quotes attributed to George Santayana on the topic of knowledge, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
This famous statement has produced many paraphrases and variants: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes. Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it. Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them. Those who do not know history's mistakes are doo -
“Skepticism, like chastity, should not be relinquished too readily.”
George Santayana , as quoted in Quotations for Our Time (1977) edited by Laurence J. Peter -
Attributed to George Santayana:
“Wisdom comes by disillusionment.”
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“On fact, the whole machinery of our intelligence, our general ideas and laws , fixed and external objects, principles , persons , and gods , are so many symbolic , algebraic expressions. They stand for experience ; experience which we are incapable of retaining and surveying in its multitudinous immediacy. We should flounder hopelessly, like the animals, did we not keep ourselves afloat and direct our course by these intellectual devices. Theory helps us to bear our ignorance of fact.”
Pt. III, Form; § 30: "The average modified in the direction of pleasure.", p. 125 -
“Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said.”
Pt. IV, Expression; § 67: "Conclusion.", p. 267 -
“Pt. IV, Expression; § 67: "Conclusion.", p. 267”
Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said. -
“Pt. IV, Expression; § 67: "Conclusion.", p. 270”
Beauty is a pledge of the possible conformity between the soul and nature , and consequently a ground of faith in the supremacy of the good .