George Santayana

Birth: 1863-12-16 , Madrid

Death: 1952-09-26 , Roma

George Santayana was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. His works cover a wide range of topics, including aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, and political philosophy. Santayana is known for his elegant prose and his philosophical skepticism, which led him to question many traditional beliefs.

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There is no God and Mary is His Mother.

There is nothing impossible, therefore, in the existence of the supernatural; its existence seems to me decidedly probable; there is infinite room for it on every side.

It is a great advantage for a system of philosophy to be substantially true.

My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.

Scepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and it is shameful to surrender it too soon or to the first comer.

Miracles are propitious accidents, the natural causes of which are too complicated to be readily understood.

I like to walk about amidst the beautiful things that adorn the world; but private wealth I should decline, or any sort of personal possessions, because they would take away my liberty.

What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak.

Each religion, so dear to those whose life it sanctifies, and fulfilling so necessary a function in the society that has adopted it, necessarily contradicts every other religion, and probably contradicts itself.

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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Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás (1863-1952), known as George Santayana, was born in Madrid, Spain, but spent most of his life in the United States and Europe. He was a prominent philosopher, poet, and literary critic. Educated at Harvard, Santayana became an influential figure in American thought, though often critical of its pragmatic tendencies. His philosophy, known as naturalism, sought to explain reality without recourse to supernatural causes. Notable works include "The Sense of Beauty," "The Life of Reason," and "Persons and Places." His lyrical prose and his reflections on culture, religion, and the human condition continue to be studied. He died in Rome, Italy.