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About this quote

What does it mean?
Santayana calls miracles accidents with complex natural causes.
In plain terms
Miracles are natural events we do not yet understand.
What can you take from it?
Unknown causes can seem miraculous.

Where it applies

  • debate
  • study

Putting it to work

  • seek natural explanations
  • acknowledge complexity

Questions to consider

  • What is a miracle?
  • Can science explain everything?

Another view

Some argue miracles are truly supernatural.

More from George Santayana

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

    Permalink to quote #28
  2. The Bible is literature, not dogma.

    Permalink to quote #30
  3. Let a man once overcome his selfish terror at his own finitude, and his finitude is, in one sense, overcome.

    Permalink to quote #27

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