Periods of tranquillity are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up.

Quote by George Santayana

Topics: George Santayana Quotes

Music is essentially useless, as is life

Music is essentially useless, as is life

All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore,...

All living souls welcome whatever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore,...

It is possible to be a master in false philosophy, easier, in fact, than to...

It is possible to be a master in false philosophy, easier, in fact, than to...

The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we...

The irrational in the human has something about it altogether repulsive and terrible, as we...

It is a revenge the devil sometimes takes upon the virtuous, that he entraps them...

It is a revenge the devil sometimes takes upon the virtuous, that he entraps them...

To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the...

To delight in war is a merit in the soldier, a dangerous quality in the...

Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.

Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and imitation without benefit.

For an idea ever to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be always...

For an idea ever to be fashionable is ominous, since it must afterwards be always...

Memory itself is an internal rumour.

Memory itself is an internal rumour.

Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace.

Knowledge is recognition of something absent; it is a salutation, not an embrace.

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

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

Oxford, the paradise of dead philosophies.

Oxford, the paradise of dead philosophies.

Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited

Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited

Love is only half the illusion; the lover, but not his love, is deceived

Love is only half the illusion; the lover, but not his love, is deceived

In endowing us with memory, nature has revealed to us a truth utterly unimaginable to...

In endowing us with memory, nature has revealed to us a truth utterly unimaginable to...

Fun is a good thing but only when it spoils nothing better.

Fun is a good thing but only when it spoils nothing better.

To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.

To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired.

All thought is naught but a footnote to Plato.

All thought is naught but a footnote to Plato.

If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.

If pain could have cured us we should long ago have been saved.

The more rational an institution is the less it suffers by making concessions to others.

The more rational an institution is the less it suffers by making concessions to others.