The oft quoted and commonly misunderstood line appears in Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of the five-volume Life of Reason. In the 1905 Charles Scribner’s Sons edition, it is found on page 284. In context, he is making a psychological point, that is, he is observing something about the development of human intelligence. But it is often employed (in various paraphrased forms) for sociological or political purposes, quite possibly in ways that are not consistent with Santayana’s views. In other words, he was often skeptical that a social or political group could learn or progress in the way implied or advocated by those who appropriate the quotation.