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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. …

At a young age Santayana traveled, with his father, from Spain to the United States to join his mother and half siblings in Boston. Santayana was educated in the U.S. at the Boston Latin School and Harvard University and later became a professor of philosophy at Harvard. He wrote all of his philosophical works in …

1951 Dominations and Powers: Reflections on Liberty, Society, and Government published. 1952 On 4 June, Santayana falls on the steps of the Spanish Consulate in Rome; his injuries include three broken ribs and a bleeding head wound in addition to patches of pneumonia on the lungs; the physician is amazed by Santayana’s recovery. Santayana continues …

1940 The Realm of Spirit: Book Fourth of Realms of Being published. The Philosophy of George Santayana published in December. 1941 Santayana moves into a nursing home operated by the Blue Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, an order of Roman Catholic Irish nuns. 1944 Persons and Places published in December; becomes a bestseller. …

1930 Half-sister Josephine dies in Ávila, on 15 October, at age 77. The Realm of Matter: Book Second of Realms of Being published in September. 1931 The Genteel Tradition at Bay published at the beginning of the year. In December, Santayana declines offer to become the William James Professor of Philosophy at Harvard. 1932 Santayana …

1920 Santayana begins spending winters in Rome; continues to summer in Paris, Ávila, Glion, at Lake Geneva, or Cortina d’Ampezzo. Character and Opinion in the United States published. “Three Proofs of Realism” published in Essays in Critical Realism: A Cooperative Study of the Problems of Knowledge. 1922 Soliloquies in England and Later Soliloquies published. Revised …

1910 Three Philosophical Poets: Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe published as first volume in the series Harvard Studies in Comparative Literature. 1911 In April Santayana delivers his final lecture at Harvard. Travels to Wisconsin and California. 1912 Santayana departs America for the last time on 24 January. Mother dies on 5 February. Takes an extended holiday …

1900 Interpretations of Poetry and Religion published. 1904 Santayana sails from New York to Plymouth, England, in mid-July; visits Paris, Rome, Venice, Naples, Pompeii, Sicily, and Greece. 1905 Visits Egypt, Palestine, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baalbeck, Beirut, Athens, Constantinople, Budapest, and Vienna. While still abroad, Santayana invited by Harvard to become Hyde Lecturer at the …

1890 In June Santayana sails from New York for Liverpool. During the summer he first visits Queen’s Acre, novelist Howard Sturgis’s home near Windsor Park, England, which he is to visit almost yearly until Sturgis’s death in 1920. He spends part of July and August in Ávila. Sailing from Liverpool on 3 September on the …

1882 Santayana graduates from Boston Latin School; attends Harvard College in autumn. 1883 Santayana visits his father in Spain for first time since coming to America. Advised by William James at Harvard not to pursue philosophy. 1885 Meets John Francis (“Frank”) Stanley, 2d Earl Russell and elder brother of Bertrand Russell, who becomes a close …