It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body.
Interpretation
The bodyβs physical expressions, like a sigh, can deeply touch the soul.
This quote by George Santayana suggests that the profound feelings and emotions we experience are often expressed through our physical states, such as sighs. It implies that the body and soul are interconnected, and sometimes it is the subtle expressions of our physical being that communicate the deepest sentiments.
In practice
During a discussion on the connection between physical and emotional health, this quote could illustrate the importance of acknowledging body language.
It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An agnostic position is one that leaves open the question whether there exists a god or gods, professing to find such a question unanswered or unanswerable. For the atheist, the question has been answered, and in the negative.
Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.
There is no such thing as closure, and it wouldn't be worth having if it were available, because all it would mean is that something that was quite an important part of you had gone numb.
I'm in favor of animal liberation. Why? Because I'm an animal.
For 'Tis not in mere death that men die most.
People live their lives, constantly surrounded by anxiety. if they live long before dying, they end up in senility, worn out by concerns: a terrible fate! The body is treated in a very harsh fashion. Courageous men are seen by everyone under Heaven as worthy, but this doesn't preserve them from death. I am not sure I know whether this is sensible or not.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.