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Arthur Koestler

Arthur Koestler Quotes

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Famous Arthur Koestler Quotes

“All "if" statements about the past are as dubious as prophecies of the future are. It seems fairly plausible that if Alexander or Ghengis Khan had never been born, some other individual would have filled his place and executed the design of the Hellenic or Mongolic expansion; but the Alexanders of philosophy and religion, of science and art, seem less expendable; their impact seems less determined by economic challenges and social pressures; and they seem to have a much wider range of possibilities to influence the direction, shape and texture of civilizations.”

IfsArtPhilosophySeemsPastIndividualSocialBornChallengesInfluenceEconomicDesignPossibilityCivilizationShapesPressureImpactFilledDeterminedStatementsRangeProphecyExpansionTextureArt And SciencePlausibleDubiousPhilosophy And ReligionSocial PressureExpendables
Author:Arthur Koestler
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“The Revolutionary's Utopia, which in appearance represents a complete break with the past, is always modeled on some image of the Lost Paradise, of a legendary Golden Age... All utopias are fed from the source of mythology; the social engineers' blueprints are merely revised editions of the ancient text.”

AgePastLostSocialBreakAtheismSourceAncientAppearancePositive AtheismMythologyGoldenRevolutionaryParadiseFedsEngineersUtopiaLegendaryBlueprintsGolden Age
Book:the god that failed
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“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
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“In the index to the six hundred odd pages of Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History, abridged version, the names of Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes and Newton do not occur yet their cosmic quest destroyed the medieval vision of an immutable social order in a walled-in universe and transformed the European landscape, society, culture, habits and general outlook, as thoroughly as if a new species had arisen on this planet.”

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Author:Arthur Koestler
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“In the social equation, the value of a single life is nil; in the cosmic equation, it is infinite... Not only communism, but any political movement which implicitly relies on purely utilitarian ethics, must become a victim to the same fatal error. It is a fallacy as naïve as a mathematical teaser, and yet its consequences lead straight to Goya's Disasters, to the reign of the guillotine, the torture chambers of the Inquisition, or the cellars of the Lubianka.”

PoliticalLife IsValuesSocialMovementEthicsConsequenceInfiniteVictimErrorsDisasterCommunismMathematicalRelyTortureCosmicReignEquationsChamberFallacySingle LifeInquisitionCellarsUtilitarianPolitical MovementsGuillotineGoyaTeasers
Book:Arrow in the blue: an autobiography
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