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Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler Quotes

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Arthur Koestler was a Hungarian-British author, journalist, and political activist. He is renowned for his novel 'Darkness at Noon' and his involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Koestler's writings frequently delved into the themes of totalitarianism and the individual's resistance to oppression.

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All Men Self Mind Individual Society Ifs Reality Seems Two Creativity

Famous Arthur Koestler Quotes

“History is a priori amoral; it has no conscience.”

Book:Darkness at Noon: A Novel

Source: Darkness at Noon: A Novel

“To sell oneself for thirty pieces of silver is an honest transaction; but to sell oneself to one s own conscience is to abandon mankind.”

Pieces Mankind Honest Conscience Sells Oneself Thirty Silver Abandon Transactions

Book:Darkness at noon

Source: Darkness at noon

“We know that virtue does not matter to history, and that crimes remain unpunished; but that every error had its consequences and venges itself unto the seventh generation.”

Generations Consequence Errors

Author:Arthur Koestler

“I am not sure whether ethical absolutes exist. But I am sure that we have to act as if they existed or civilization perishes.”

Ifs Civilization Ethics Absolutes Not Sure Ethical

Author:Arthur Koestler

“History knows no scruples and no hesitation. Inert and unerring, she flows towards her goal. At every bend in her course she leaves the mud which she carries and the corpses of the drowned.”

Knows Courses Goal Flow Carrie Mud Corpses Hesitation Scruples

Book:Darkness at noon

Source: Darkness at noon

“Snobbery is not merely a silly human weakness but something basic in the mentality of modern man-a symptom which reflects the general sickness, the dislocation of social and cultural values in contemporary civilization.”

Men Humans Values Social Modern Civilization Weakness Silly Contemporary Sickness Mentality Symptoms Modern Man Snobbery Dislocation

Book:The trail of the dinosaur & other essays

Source: The trail of the dinosaur & other essays

“Coincidence may be described as the chance encounter of two unrelated causal chains which - miraculously, it seems - merge into a significant event.”

May Two Chance Chains Encounters Coincidence Coincidence In Life Chance Encounters

Author:Arthur Koestler

“Laughter and weeping, the Greek masks of comedy and tragedy, mark the extremes of a continuous spectrum; both provide channels for the overflow of emotion; both are”

Emotion Comedy Laughter Tragedy Mark Extremes Greek Mask Spectrum Weeping Overflow

Author:Arthur Koestler

“Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.”

Reality Science Space Technology Sky Vans

Book:The Act of Creation

Source: The Act of Creation

About the Author

Born: September 5, 1905
Died: March 1, 1983
Known for: Author
Quotes: 159

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Men Self Mind Individual Society Ifs Reality Seems Two Creativity

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Books & Sources

The Act of CreationRelated source material

Darkness at noonRelated source material

Kaleidoscope: essays from Drinkers of infinity, and The heel of Achilles and later pieces and storiesRelated source material

Arrow in the blue: an autobiographyRelated source material

The Yogi and the Commissar, and Other EssaysRelated source material

Astride the two cultures: Arthur Koestler at 70Related source material

Dialogue with Death: The Journal of a Prisoner of the Fascists in the Spanish Civil WarRelated source material

The Ghost in the MachineRelated source material

The thirteenth tribe: the Khazar empire and its heritageRelated source material

The trail of the dinosaur: and Reflections on hangingRelated source material

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