George Santayana — People

Painterly jagged stone in a clear beaker of bubbling golden liquid against light blue. — Original artwork

American life is a powerful solvent. It seems to neutralize every intellectual element, however tough and alien it may be, and to fuse it in the native good will, complacency, thoughtlessness, and optimism.

George Santayana

An empty gilt frame on a small shelf beside a vase and a round ornament, with warm light crossing a lilac wall. — Original artwork

Beauty as we feel it is something indescribable: what it is or what it means can never be said.

George Santayana

A purple wildflower grows through a brass tuning fork planted in moss beside a small feather. — Original artwork

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.

George Santayana

A red wind-up runner stands on a mirrored base beside a loose brass key against teal. — Original artwork

Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim.

George Santayana

A round glass flask on a brass tripod with a small yellow flower growing inside it. — Original artwork

Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment.

George Santayana

A pearl necklace drapes across a gray feather beside a dried sprig on a sunlit windowsill. — Original artwork

I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world; but private wealth I should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.

George Santayana

Painterly two toy soldiers on scorched ground, one standing and one fallen, beneath a smoky sky. — Original artwork

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

George Santayana

A wind-up toy mouse walks a circular groove in a red clay tray with a yellow ribbon on its tail, against a mint background. — Original artwork

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana

Painterly single seed resting on the lowered end of a delicate glass balance against pale green. — Original artwork

That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions.

George Santayana

Painterly wilted laurel wreath draped over an empty gold picture frame against plum. — Original artwork

The highest form of vanity is love of fame.

George Santayana

A nearly empty glass hourglass stands upright on pale grey ground with a tiny golden grain at its narrow centre. — Original artwork

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

George Santayana