To Cyril Coniston Clemens
Via Santo Stefano Rotondo, 6
Rome. November 12, 1948
Dear Clemens,
Does this suggestion of a Nobel Prize come from you or from some American source, or does it possibly come from Sweden, where a version of my “Idea of Christ in the Gospels” has appeared recently in a very appropriate form? This would make a great difference in my feelings about the proposal; but in either case there are obstacles to such an award (besides the improbability of it) that I think are insuperable.
1. I am not able to travel to Sweden or to make a public appearance there.
2. I am not, as is often supposed, an American citizen, yet cannot be classed as a Spanish author, since I write only in English.
3. I have no need of the prize; but perhaps the money could be diverted by the Swedish authorities to some worthier object.
4. In what science or art could I be said to have accomplished anything? Literature? Philosophy? It is doubtful.
Therefore I beg you, if the idea is yours, to drop it at once, and not to undertake anything of this kind in my favour. I might seem bound to express overwhelming gratitude for your interest, but I do not feel that it is interest in anything that I care for. It is your love of action.
Yours sincerely,
G Santayana
From The Letters of George Santayana: Book Eight, 1948-1952. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008.
Location of manuscript: William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham NC