Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the shift in perception from seeing the universe as entirely knowable through logic to recognizing the limitations of human understanding.
Arthur Koestler's quote illustrates the evolution of his understanding of the universe from a simplistic view where everything can be understood through equations and logic, to a more nuanced perspective where much remains mysterious and hidden. He suggests that while knowledge is attainable, it is only a fraction of the greater unknown, and only in rare moments of clarity do we grasp insights that may reveal deeper truths about existence.
Themes
UniverseUnderstandingKnowledgeMysteryWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a lecture about the philosophy of science.
More from Arthur Koestler
All quotes →History 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 — of previously unrelated frames of reference or universes of discourse — whose union will solve the previously insoluble problem.
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The most persistent sound which reverberates through man's history is the beating of war drums.
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