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Quote by Arthur Koestler

“To want to meet an author because you like his books is as ridiculous as wanting to meet the goose because you like pate de foie gras.”

Quote by Arthur Koestler

Author

Arthur Koestler

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. more

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“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

“What a strange scene if the surge of conversation could suddenly ebb like the tide, and show us the real state of people's minds.”

People Ifs Mind Real States Shows Strange Scene Conversation Tides

Book:Life of Sir Walter Scott, bart

Source: Life of Sir Walter Scott, bart

“Ridicule often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.”

Thinking Noble Checks Absurd Ridicule

Book:The Novels of Walter Scott: With All His Introd. and Notes

Source: The Novels of Walter Scott: With All His Introd. and Notes