QuoteProject
The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.
Arthur Koestler
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

War has been a constant and defining force throughout human history.

Arthur Koestler highlights the idea that the sound of war has been a recurring theme throughout human history, emphasizing the impact of war on society and civilization. The 'beating of war drums' symbolizes the pervasive nature of conflict, suggesting that war not only shapes events but also echoes through the ages, influencing cultures, politics, and the human experience itself.

Themes

WarHistoryConflictSoundImpact

In practice

Example use cases

In a documentary discussing the impact of war on civilizations.

More from Arthur Koestler

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.
Arthur KoestlerRead
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.
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.
Arthur KoestlerRead
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.
Arthur KoestlerRead
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

Similar quotes

Everything might scatter. You might be right. I suppose it's something we can't easily get away from. People need to feel they belong. To a nation, to a race. Otherwise, who knows what might happen? This civilisation of ours, perhaps it'll just collapse. And everything scatter, as you put it.
Kazuo IshiguroRead
Just as our brains fill in the details of an image our eyes record only roughly, so, too, do our brains employ tricks we are unaware of to fill in details about people we don't know intimately.
Leonard MlodinowRead
We never see a tree except through the image that we have of it, the concept of that tree; but the concept, the knowledge, the experience, is entirely different from the actual tree. Look at a tree and you will find how extraordinarily difficult it is to see it completely, so that no image, no screen, comes between the seeing and the actual fact. By completely I mean with the totality of your mind and heart, not a fragment of it.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
Today, this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalization of indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to confront.
Pope FrancisRead
In most cases we attach ourselves to in order to take revenge on life, to punish it, to signify we can do without it, that we have found something better, and we also attach ourselves to God in horror of men.
Emile M. CioranRead
Let us remember the large numbers of citizens who, day in and day out, through acts of volunteerism large and small, bring hope to so many of the world's disadvantaged. Let us ensure that this wonderful resource, available in abundance to every nation, is recognized and supported as it works towards a more prosperous and peaceful world.
Kofi AnnanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.