It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas.
George SantayanaRead
It is war that wastes a nations wealth, chokes its industries, kills its flower, narrows its sympathies, condemns it to be governed by adventurers, and leaves the puny, deformed, and unmanly to breed the next generation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
War destroys a nation's resources and moral fabric, leaving a detrimental legacy for future generations.
George Santayana's quote illustrates the profound negative impact of war on a nation. He argues that war not only depletes wealth and stunts industrial growth, but it also harms society's emotional and moral development. The quote suggests that the consequences of war are far-reaching, affecting both the physical and psychological aspects of a nation's future, as it leads to a governance by unworthy leaders and perpetuates a cycle of weakness and decay in subsequent generations.
Themes
WarNationWealthSympathiesGovernmentFuture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the cost of conflict, one might use this quote to emphasize the long-term effects of war.
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.
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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.
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