Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.
Arthur KoestlerRead
History knows no scruples and no hesitation. Inert and unnering flows towards her goal. History knows herway. She makes no mistakes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
History moves relentlessly towards its course without moral considerations or errors.
This quote suggests that history is an unstoppable force that progresses with certainty and purpose, regardless of human values, intentions, or mistakes. It implies that while individuals may hesitate or exhibit moral dilemmas, history itself is impartial and relentless in its trajectory.
Themes
HistoryInevitabilityRelentlessnessTruthProgress
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about the role of ethics in historical events, one might use this quote to emphasize the impartial nature of historical progress.
More from Arthur Koestler
All quotes βIf 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.
Arthur KoestlerRead
Space-ships and time machines are no escape from the human condition. Let Othello subject Desdemona to a lie-detector test; his jealousy will still blind him to the evidence. Let Oedipus triumph over gravity; he won't triumph over his fate.
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The real achievement in discoveries... is seeing an analogy where no one saw one before... The essence of discovery is that unlikely marriage of cabbages and kings β of previously unrelated frames of reference or universes of discourse β whose union will solve the previously insoluble problem.
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In my youth I regarded the universe as an open book, printed in the language of equations, whereas now it appears to me as a text written in invisible ink, of which in our rare moments of grace we are able to decipher a small segment.
Arthur KoestlerRead
The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.
Arthur KoestlerRead
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