It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
There is a kind of courtesy in skepticism. It would be an offense against polite conventions to press our doubts too far.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Skepticism involves a respectful doubt that acknowledges social norms.
The quote by George Santayana suggests that while skepticism is an essential part of inquiry and understanding, it must be balanced with social etiquette. Pressing doubts too far can harm relationships and disrupt dialogue, indicating that a certain level of politeness is necessary when questioning or challenging beliefs and ideas.
Themes
SkepticismCourtesyDoubtPolitenessPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about social issues, this quote can remind participants to maintain respect while expressing skepticism.
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
Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.
A. J. P. TaylorRead
A miracle signifies nothing more than an event... the cause of which cannot be explained by another familiar instance, or.... which the narrator is unable to explain.
Baruch SpinozaRead
I did not volunteer for the Waffen SS, but was, as were thousands of my year group, conscripted. I did not then know as a 17-year-old that it was a criminal unit. I thought it was an elite unit.
Gunter GrassRead
Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe
William ShakespeareRead
Iβve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
R. C. SproulRead
He who can make distinction in God without number or quantity, knows that the three persons of the Trinity are one God.
Meister EckhartRead