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A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading.

— Leszek Kołakowski Metaphysical Horror (1988)

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Philosophy

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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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.

Martin Buber Power and Love (1926)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

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.