It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body.
Interpretation
The bodyβs physical expressions, like a sigh, can deeply touch the soul.
This quote by George Santayana suggests that the profound feelings and emotions we experience are often expressed through our physical states, such as sighs. It implies that the body and soul are interconnected, and sometimes it is the subtle expressions of our physical being that communicate the deepest sentiments.
In practice
During a discussion on the connection between physical and emotional health, this quote could illustrate the importance of acknowledging body language.
It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' is a snivelling modern invention, with no warrant in the gospels.
And sure enough, in seeking to become superhuman this foolhardy young man renders himself inhuman. The heart that he has locked away slowly shrivels and grows hair, symbolising his own descent to beasthood.
When virtue has slept it will arise more vigorous.
Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us... and we drown.
You can put anything into words, except your own life.
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