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A certain degree of blindness as to the absoluteness of one’s own values may be indispensable to extract the valuable qualities from the world, the qualities whose value is believed to be the highest. It is possible that in order to realize one’s values one must have faith in their exclusive character.

— Leszek Kołakowski The Alienation of Reason (1966)

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More quotes by Leszek Kołakowski

Marxism has been the greatest fantasy of our century. It was a dream offering the prospect of a society of perfect unity, in which all human aspirations would be fulfilled and all values reconciled.

Main Currents Of Marxism (1978)

The history of utopias is no less fascinating than the history of metallurgy or of chemical engineering.

Main Currents Of Marxism (1978)

There is no idea so obscure that someone could not come to regard it as self-evident.

The Alienation of Reason (1966)

The concept of original sin gives us a penetrating insight into human destiny.

Pragmatism starts from assumptions similar to those of empiriocriticism, but differs from the latter by its striking formulations, loose aphorisms, and analytical unscrupulousness.

The Alienation of Reason (1966)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Leszek Kołakowski (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.