I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind, however simple, that does not change every moment.
~ Henri-Louis Bergson
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I cannot escape the objection that there is no state of mind, however simple, that does not change every moment.
~ Henri-Louis Bergson
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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.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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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
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Communism was not the crazy fantasy of a few fanatics, nor the result of human stupidity and baseness; it was a real, very real part of the history of the twentieth century, and we cannot understand this history of ours without understanding communism.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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It is possible that in order to realize one’s values one must have faith in their exclusive character.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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Pragmatism starts from assumptions similar to those of empiriocriticism, but differs from the latter by its striking formulations, loose aphorisms, and analytical unscrupulousness.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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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.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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Marxism performs the function of a religion, and its efficacy is of a religious character. But it is a caricature and a bogus form of religion, since it presents its temporal eschatology as a scientific system, which religious mythologies do not purport to be.
~ Leszek Kołakowski
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