It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People seek validation for their beliefs, much like they do in religious faith, and resist opposing views strongly.
George Santayana's quote highlights the human tendency to desire affirmation and support for our personal beliefs and vanity. Just as individuals often anticipate unwavering support and agreement in matters of faith, they similarly expect the same in areas of personal pride, and are often unwilling to accept or forgive any contradictions or challenges to those beliefs.
Themes
SupportVanityBeliefsContradictionsReligion
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of self-esteem, one might use this quote to highlight how people react to differing opinions.
More from George Santayana
All quotes βThe 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
I suppose I could understand it if men had simply forgotten unicorns, but not to see them at all, to look at them and see something else β what do they look to one another, then? What do trees look like to them, or houses, or real horses, or their own children?
Peter S. BeagleRead
The nationalist has a broad hatred and a narrow love.
Andre GideRead
Grassroots groups challenge the "business-as-usual" environmentalism that is generally practiced by the more privileged wildlife-and conservation-oriented groups. The focus of activists of color and their constituents reflects their life experiences of social, economic, and political disenfranchisement.
Robert D BullardRead
I came in contact with every known Indian anarchist in London. Their bravery impressed me, but I felt that their zeal was misguided. I felt that violence was no remedy for India's ills, and that her civilisation required the use of a different and higher weapon for self-protection. - Hind Swaraj
Mahatma GandhiRead
How you approach the problem of suffering depends on how you approach life itself. There are only two ways. Either meaning is surrounded by matter, or matter is surrounded by meaning.
Peter KreeftRead
You cannot really have the world and hold on to it. It is all too temporary and the more you try to hold on to it, the more it actually holds you. By contrast, the more you hold on to the true and the good, the more you are free to really live.
Ravi ZachariasRead