George Santayana - Common Sense with Paul Jacob

George Santayana

Liberty may be maimed, but not killed; reason may be bent, but not broken.

George Santayana, Egotism in German Philosophy, 1915

Recent Posts

The Next Population Explosion
January 30, 2026
The Next Population Explosion — Paul Jacob on Elon’s notion …Read More »
Fifty Years After Buckley
January 29, 2026
Paul Jacob on the consequences of a Supreme Court ruling.Read More »
Goofy Wig and All
January 28, 2026
Paul Jacob on whether weather modification really is nothing but …Read More »
ICE Melt in Minnesota
January 27, 2026
Paul Jacob on a change coming to immigration enforcement per …Read More »
Not This King?
January 26, 2026
Paul Jacob on the nature of power . . . …Read More »

Thought of the Day

I wish for my own part there were no such thing as Political-Economy. I mean not now the mere name of the study: but I wish there had never been any necessity for directing our attention to the study itself. If men had always been secured in person and property, and left at full liberty to employ both as they saw fit; and had merely been precluded from unjust interference with each other — had the most perfect freedom of intercourse between all mankind been always allowed — had there never been any wars — nor (which in that case would have easily been avoided) any taxation — then, though every exchange that took place would have been one of the phenomena of which Political-Economy takes cognizance, all would have proceeded so smoothly, that probably no attention would ever have been called to the subject. The transactions of society would have been like the play of the lungs, the contractions of the muscles, and the circulation of the blood, in a healthy person; who scarcely knows that these functions exist. But as soon as they are impeded and disordered, our attention is immediately called to them.
Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832), Lecture III.

— Richard Whately

Leave a Reply Cancel reply