George Santayana

It takes patience to appreciate domestic bliss; volatile spirits prefer unhappiness. ”

Character is the basis of happiness and happiness the sanction of character. ”

To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood. ”

The hunger for facile wisdom is the root of all false philosophy. ”

Wisdom comes by disillusionment. ”

To reform means to shatter one form and to create another; but the two sides of this act are not always equally intended nor equally successful. ”

Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. ”

That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject. ”

Friends need not agree in everything or go always together, or have no comparable other friendships of the same intimacy. ”

Friendship is almost always the union of a part of one mind with the part of another; people are friends in spots. ”