To Mary Potter Bush
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6
Rome. June 29, 1945
You mention my old little book about German Egotism. You know that this war has caused it to be reissued in England and much more appreciated than it was originally: and here in Italy, I find that my thesis about the historical background of philosophic egotism is current—not by any connexion with me—in Catholic circles. It all goes back to Luther, through German idealism. But national egotism and voracity is not confined to Germans. The big trees cannot help overshadowing the little ones.
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Seven, 1941-1947. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.
Location of manuscript: Butler Library, Columbia University, New York NY