By George

Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.

George Santayana
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Hello Stuart
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Philosophy is a deep pit which once you fall into it you might not get out. But it's walls are painted with fabulous and beautiful scenes. There are strange objects to discover, precious jewels and lights in a vast array of colors, some of them very bright. One of those who left his gems down in the pit was the Spanish philosopher Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás (George Santayana , 1863 - 1952).

As a philosopher Santayana was also a prophet. He was a naturalist before it was popular. He was a multiculturalist before it was popular. And he believed in philosophy as literature which eventually became the style of many American philosophers.

He wrote on art:

"An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world."

"Graphic design is the paradise of individuality, eccentricity, heresy, abnormality, hobbies and humors."

"The degree in which a poet's imagination dominates reality is, in the end, the exact measure of his importance and dignity."

He wrote of knowledge:

"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds."

"Knowledge is recognition of something absent, it is a salutation, not an embrace."

"I believe in general in a dualism between facts and the idea of those facts in the human head."

On living in general:

"Happiness is the only sanction of life; when happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment."

"Nothing can so pierce the soul as the uttermost sigh of the body."

"For gold is tried in the fire and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity."
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I love philosophy and philosophers. If you want to know where I am, I'm down in the pit picking through more of Santayana's gems of wisdom.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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