It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that the body serves as a tool for the mind, which is responsible for its actions and experiences.
George Santayana highlights the relationship between the body and the mind, portraying the body as an instrument that the mind uses to navigate and experience the world. The mind governs the functions and actions of the body, while the experiences and outcomes of these actions serve as a witness to the mind's operations, ultimately making the mind aware of its own existence and achievements.
Themes
BodyMindInstrumentFunctionExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the power of the human experience.
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.
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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.
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
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