Santayana on Reason

"Reason, like beauty, is its own excuse for being. It is useful, indeed, for living well, when to give reason satisfaction is made the measure of good.The true philosopher, who is not one chiefly by profession, must be prepared to tread the winepress alone. He may indeed flourish like the bay-tree in a grateful environment, but more often he will rather resemble a reed shaken by the wind." 

George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Chapter 12 

A few writers I keep coming back to, Santayan, William James, Spinoza, Plato. I'm not sure why. As classical philosophers go, Aristotle is as interesting as Plato, but I find Plato's company congenial, even though I find myself disagreeing with him more often than not.