No. 15
On the Interpretation of Nature (1753)
Context: There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available to us: observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation. Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination. Our observation of nature must be diligent, our reflection profound, and our experiments exact. We rarely see these three means combined; and for this reason, creative geniuses are not common.
“Culture is on the horns of this dilemma: if profound and noble, it must remain rare, if common, it must become mean.”
Source: The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906), Vol. II, Reason in Society, Ch. IV: The Aristocratic Ideal
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George Santayana 109
20th-century Spanish-American philosopher associated with P… 1863–1952Related quotes
“Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of a dilemma.”
Now is the Time to Prevent a Third World War (1950)
Context: World government must progressively be established, common problems must be solved by common action, economic and racial justice and fellowship must be achieved... empires must be transformed into commonwealths, the race of armaments must be stopped and the system of balance-of-armed-power must be brought to an end, the churches must take Jesus seriously by trusting goodwill and pacific means and by disentangling themselves from the war system, a mighty movement of peoples must be created so that governments will maintain friendly and cooperative relations and will refrain from hostile and provocative actions.... Now is the time to prevent a third world war.
Source: Liberalism (1911), Chapter III, The Movement Of Theory, p. 30.
c. 1960
Source: 1960 - 1968, Dialogues – conversations with.., quotes, c. 1960, p. 153
Source: Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising
1920s, The Future of an Illusion (1927)