“Art like life should be free, since both are experimental.”

— George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. IV: Reason in Art, Ch. IX

About George Santayana

1863 – 1952

Spanish-American philosopher and poet, author of "The Life of Reason".

“It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss; volatile spirits prefer unhappiness.”

“Theory helps us to bear our ignorance of fact.”

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

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

“Life is earnest, art is gay.”

“The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere.”

“In art, as in nature and in life, relations are modes of interaction.”

“We do not pretend that life is all beauty.”

“Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient.”