“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness.”

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

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.”

“A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end.”

“Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.”

“All becoming and growing—all that guarantees a future—involves pain.”

“Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending.”

“All progress means war with Society.”

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.”