Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.
Arthur KoestlerRead
The progress of science is strewn, like an ancient desert trail, with the bleached skeleton of discarded theories which once seemed to possess eternal life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Scientific progress often involves the rejection of theories that were once widely accepted.
In this quote, Arthur Koestler reflects on the nature of scientific advancement, suggesting that the path to knowledge is often littered with the remnants of outdated theories. These theories, which once appeared to be true and foundational, are eventually dismissed as new evidence and understanding emerge, highlighting the ever-evolving nature of science and our quest for truth.
Themes
ScienceProgressTheoriesKnowledgeTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a science class, discussing the evolution of scientific theories.
More from Arthur Koestler
All quotes βHistory knows no scruples and no hesitation. Inert and unnering flows towards her goal. History knows herway. She makes no mistakes.
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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.
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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
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