“Our dignity is not in what we do, but in what we understand.”

— George Santayana, The Genteel Tradition in American Philosophy (1911), p. 50

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.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”