George Santayana Quotes

Follow not truth too near the heels, lest it dash out thy teeth.

Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.

Wise words are like arrows flung at your forehead. What do you do? Why, you duck of course.

Moderately wise each one should be, Not overwise, for a wise man's heart Is seldom glad (Norse Wisdom)

Full of wise saws and modern instances.

We cannot expect to be happy always ... by experiencing evil as well as good we become wise.

No one is wise or safe, but they that are honest.

'God himself cannot exist without wise men' - Luther said, and was right. But 'God can exist even less without unwise men' - that good old Luther did not say.

The wise men of old have sent most of their morality down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram; and the proverbs of nations, which embody the commonsense of nations, have the brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit.

Never does nature say one thing and Wisdom another. Variant: Wisdom and Nature! are they not the same? Variant: Nature and Wisdon always speak alike.

Titles are marks of honest men, and wise; The fool or knave that wears a title lies.

Aphorisms are not true or false, but pointed or flat.

I got so tired of hearing those proverbs when I was a child. Now I use them all the time. Sometimes they are the best way to say what needs to be said. I teach them to my students. I have a collection of proverbs for class discussion and writing assignments.

The Greek word for philosopher (philosophos) connotes a distinction from sophos. It signifies the lover of wisdom (knowledge) as distinguished from him who considers himself wise in the possession of knowledge. This meaning of the word still endures: the essence of philosophy is not the possession of the truth but the search for truth. ... Philosophy means to be on the way. Its questions are more essential than its answers, and every answer becomes a new question.

Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise.

Facts are ventriloquist’s dummies. Sitting on a wise man’s knee they may be made to utter words of wisdom; elsewhere, they say nothing, or talk nonsense, or indulge in sheer diabolism.

I say, the acknowledgment of God in ChristAccepted by thy reason, solves for theeAll questions in the earth and out of it,And has so far advanced thee to be wise.

When truth presents itself, the wise person see the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments. The fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it.

It 's guid to be merry and wise, It 's guid to be honest and true, It 's guid to support Caledonia's cause, And bide by the buff and the blue.

When facts speak, the wise man listens.

An egoist can be won over by being respected, a crazy person can be won over by allowing him to behave in an insane manner and a wise person can be won over by truth.

Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish.

The gate is small because truth guards the entrance. The way is narrow because the Lord protects us with wise boundaries.

One fool will deny more truth in half an hour than a wise man can prove in seven years.