It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
Christianity persecuted, tortured, and burned. Like a hound it tracked the very scent of heresy. It kindled wars, and nursed furious hatreds and ambitions... Man, far from being freed from his natural passions, was plunged into artificial ones quite as violent and much more disappointing.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the violent history of Christianity and its impact on human passion and society.
George Santayana reflects on the turbulent history of Christianity, suggesting that rather than liberating humanity from natural passions, it has instead intensified artificial desires and led to conflict. The quote implies that religious fervor can lead to violent outcomes and an entrapment in less fulfilling passions, which contrasts with the peaceful ideals that religion often espouses.
Themes
ChristianityViolenceHeresyHuman PassionsPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the historical impact of religion on society, this quote serves to illustrate the darker side of religious fervor.
More from George Santayana
All quotes →The working of great institutions is mainly the result of a vast mass of routine, petty malice, self interest, carelessness and sheer mistake. Only a residual fraction is thought.
George SantayanaRead
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colours of life in all their purity.
George SantayanaRead
Not to believe in love is a great sign of dullness. There are some people so indirect and lumbering that they think all real affection rests on circumstantial evidence.
George SantayanaRead
To feel beauty is a better thing than to understand how we come to feel it. To have imagination and taste, to love the best, to be carried by the contemplation of nature to a vivid faith in the ideal, all this is more, a great deal more, than any science can hope to be.
George SantayanaRead
The vital straining towards an ideal, definite but latent, when it dominates a whole life, may express that ideal more fully than could the best chosen words.
George SantayanaRead
Similar quotes
The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs.
Friedrich August Von HayekRead
Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them.
Alfred North WhiteheadRead
Man is a wonder to himself; he can neither govern nor know himself.
Benjamin WhichcoteRead
It doesn't sound too good to say I am the son of a landowner, so let us rather say I am the grandson of exploited Galician peasants.
Fidel CastroRead
Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested - for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
Emma GoldmanRead
Another victory like that and we are done for.
Pyrrhus Of EpirusRead