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

— George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. I: Reason in Common Sense (1905-1906)

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About George Santayana

1863 – 1952

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

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More from George Santayana

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

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

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

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“The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness.”

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

— The Book of Psalms

“We have achieved political freedom but our revolution is not yet complete and is still in progress, for political freedom without the assurance of the right to live and to pursue…”

— Jawaharlal Nehru

“Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.”

— Thomas Szasz