Arthur Koestler ( 10 of 39 )
When reality becomes unbearable, the mind must withdraw from it and create a world of artificial perfection. Plato's world of read more
When reality becomes unbearable, the mind must withdraw from it and create a world of artificial perfection. Plato's world of pure Ideas and Forms, which alone is to be considered as real, whereas the world of nature which we perceive is merely its cheap Woolworth copy, is a flight into delusion.
I think most historians will agree that the part played by impulses of selfish, individual aggression in the holocausts of read more
I think most historians will agree that the part played by impulses of selfish, individual aggression in the holocausts of history was small; first and foremost, the slaughter was meant as an offering to the gods, to king and country, or the future happiness of mankind. The crimes of Caligula shrink to insignificance compared to the havoc wrought by Torquemada. The number of victims of robbers, highwaymen, rapists, gangsters and other criminals at any period of history is negligible compared to the massive numbers of those cheerfully slain in the name of the true religion, just policy, or correct ideology.
Creative activity could be described as a type of learning
process where teacher and pupil are located in the same read more
Creative activity could be described as a type of learning
process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups read more
...the evils of mankind are caused, not by the primary aggressiveness of individuals, but by their self-transcending identification with groups whose common denominator is low intelligence and high emotionality.
The 'missing link' between ape and man will probably never be found- because it was an embryo.
The 'missing link' between ape and man will probably never be found- because it was an embryo.
The new frontiers to be conquered are mainly in the convolutions of the cortex.
The new frontiers to be conquered are mainly in the convolutions of the cortex.
...we are apt to forget that the vast majority of men and women who fell under the totalitarian spell was read more
...we are apt to forget that the vast majority of men and women who fell under the totalitarian spell was activated by unselfish motives, ready to accept the role of martyr or executioner, as the cause demanded.
Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, read more
Conscious and unconscious experiences do not belong to different compartments of the mind; they form a continuous scale of gradations, of degrees of awareness.
Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that read more
Wherever we find orderly, stable systems in Nature, we find that they are hierarchically structured, for the simple reason that without such structuring of complex systems into sub-assemblies, there could be no order and stability- except the order of a dead universe filled with a uniformly distributed gas.
...one of the tests of a theory is that, once grasped, it appears self-evident.
...one of the tests of a theory is that, once grasped, it appears self-evident.
