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About this quote

What does it mean?
Religious beliefs are personal like taste, so arguing about them is disrespectful.
In plain terms
Don't fight with others about their faith like you wouldn't fight about their food.
What can you take from it?
Respect personal beliefs as you respect personal taste.

Where it applies

  • interfaith dialogue
  • family gatherings
  • workplace discussions

Putting it to work

  • listening without debating
  • focusing on shared values
  • setting boundaries

Questions to consider

  • Where do you draw the line on respecting beliefs?
  • How do you discuss faith without arguing?

Another view

It may discourage necessary ethical critique of harmful beliefs.

More from George Santayana

  1. The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men's minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them.

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  3. What renders man an imaginative and moral being is that in society he gives new aims to his life which could not have existed in solitude: the aims of friendsh…

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