Quotessence
Home / Authors / Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenSelfMindIndividualSocietyIfsRealitySeemsTwoCreativityEndsFormHumansMayWorldBelieveDiscoveryMankindScienceSocial

Famous Arthur Koestler Quotes

“No man is an island- he is a holon. A Janus-faced entity who, looking inward, sees himself as a self-contained unique whole, looking outward as a dependent part. His self-assertive tendency is the dynamic manifestation of his unique wholeness, his autonomy and independence as a holon. Its equally universal antagonist, the integrative tendency, expresses his dependence on the larger whole to which he belongs: his 'part-ness.'.”

MenSelfWholeUniqueUniversalIndependenceTendenciesManifestationIslandsDependentEntityInwardWholenessDependenceAutonomyAssertiveAntagonistSelf ContainedJanus
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image

“The continuous disasters of man's history are mainly due to his excessive capacity and urge to become identified with a tribe, nation, church or cause, and to espouse its credo uncritically and enthusiastically, even if its tenets are contrary to reason, devoid of self-interest and detrimental to the claims of self-preservation.We are thus driven to the unfashionable conclusion that the trouble with our species is not an excess of aggression, but an excess capacity for fanatical devotion.”

IfsMenSelfReasonNationsCausesInterestChurchTroubleCapacityClaimsSpeciesDuesDrivenContraryDisasterDevotionConclusionUrgesExcessAggressionTribesPreservationSelf InterestSelf PreservationDetrimentalCredo
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image

“The integrative tendencies of the individual operate through the mechanisms of empathy, sympathy, projection, introjection, identification, worship- all of which make him feel that he is a part of some larger entity which transcends the boundaries of the individual self. This psychological urge to belong, to participate, to commune is as primary and real as its opposite. The all-important question is the nature of that higher entity of which the individual feels himself a part.”

FeelsImportantRealSelfIndividualSocietyHigherWorshipEmpathyOppositesBoundariesTendenciesPsychologicalPrimariesUrgesMechanismEntityProjectionIdentificationImportant QuestionsCommunes
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image

“I have repeatedly stressed that the selfish impulses of man constitute a much less historic danger than his integrative tendencies. To put it in the simplest way: the individual who indulges in an excess of aggressive self-assertiveness incurs the penalties of society-he outlaws himself, he contracts out of the hierarchy. The true believer, on the other hand, becomes more closely knit into it; he enters the womb of his church, or party, or whatever the social holon to which he surrenders his identity.”

MenWaySelfHandsIndividualSocialChurchPartyDangerIdentityBelieverSelfishSurrenderTendenciesImpulseContractsAggressiveExcessPenaltiesSimplestHistoricWombHierarchyIndulgeStressedIndulge InOutlawTrue BelieverAssertiveness
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image

“If one looks with a cold eye at the mess man has made of his history, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he has been afflicted by some built-in mental disorder which drives him towards self-destruction. Murder within the species on an individual or collective scale is a phenomenon unknown in the whole animal kingdom, except for man, and a few varieties of ants and rats.”

IfsMenLooksHas BeensMadeSelfWholeEyeIndividualDifficultAnimalColdBuiltDestructionMurderSpeciesScalesKingdomsConclusionMessVarietyCollectivesPhenomenonDisorderCynicalRatsAntsSelf DestructionMental DisorderAnimal KingdomCold Eyes
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image

“The inner censor of the mind of the true believer completes the work of the public censor; his self-discipline is as tyrannical as the obedience imposed by the regime; he terrorizes his own conscience into submission;he carries his private Iron Curtain inside his skull, to protect his illusions against the intrusion of reality.”

MindSelfRealityDisciplineProtectIllusionConscienceBelieverObedienceIronCarrieRegimesSelf DisciplineSubmissionCurtainsSkullsTrue BelieverIntrusionIron Curtain
Author:Arthur Koestler
Create image