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There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.
George Santayana
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Embracing new experiences enhances our understanding and mental agility.

George Santayana suggests that regularly shifting from familiar environments to unfamiliar ones fosters mental flexibility, challenges our biases, and encourages a sense of humor. This exploration enriches our perspectives and allows for personal growth by exposing us to diversity in thought and experience.

Themes

WisdomExperienceMindfulnessHumorPrejudiceFlexibility

In practice

Example use cases

This quote is perfect for a workshop on personal development.

More from George Santayana

It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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