It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Progress is based on our ability to learn from the past, rather than merely changing for the sake of change.
This quote by George Santayana emphasizes that true progress is not just about making changes, but about retaining and learning from our past experiences. If we fail to remember and understand history, we risk repeating past mistakes, which can hinder our development and growth.
Themes
ProgressHistoryChangeLearningMemory
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of historical education in schools.
More from George Santayana
All quotes →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.
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
Had our hearts been pure, we would never tire with the Dhikr of Allaah.
Uthman Ibn AffanRead
It isn't more light we need, it isn't more truth, and it isn't more scientific data. It is more Christ, more courage, more spiritual insight to act on the light we have.
Benjamin E. MaysRead
It is much more intelligent, more practical, to be good rather than evil.
Paulo CoelhoRead
It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity and you let yourself die. It's as simple as that.
Tove JanssonRead
If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.
Isaac AsimovRead
In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus, there are no loopholes disqualifying us from God's love.
Philip YanceyRead