Quotes Library

February 12, 2025

Why shouldn’t things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go well together.

George Santayana, 1863-1952, Spanish-born American philosopher, The Portable Curmudgeon, Jon Winokur, ed. (New York: 1987), p.171

What is the point? For you personally, not for the rest of the universe?

If Santayana believed all that, it surprises me that he managed so long a life—replete with the absurd, the futile, and the transitory. And that he is remembered.


More Quotes

September 21, 2025
Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.
February 14, 2025
Whatever else may be shaken, there are some facts established beyond warring; for virtue is better than vice
September 25, 2025
…that is the great fallacy; the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.
Page 16 of 122