It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great institutions often operate on routine and human flaws rather than pure thought or intention.
George Santayana's quote reflects on the nature of large organizations and institutions, suggesting that their operations are primarily influenced by habitual routines, human errors, and self-serving behaviors, rather than by high-level thinking or careful planning. This implies a critique of how institutional actions can often be misguided or inefficient, showcasing the limitations imposed by human nature.
Themes
InstitutionsHuman NatureRoutineThoughtErrors
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on organizational behavior, one might quote Santayana to illustrate how human flaws impact institutional efficiency.
More from George Santayana
All quotes βThere 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
All living souls welcome whatsoever they are ready to cope with; all else they ignore, or pronounce to be monstrous and wrong, or deny to be possible.
George SantayanaRead
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