--- title: "4 End Justifies Quotes By Arthur Koestler" description: "4 End Justifies quotes by Arthur Koestler. Plus more from Arthur Koestler and more End Justifies sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg" --- > [Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is no other rule possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-breathing-spaces-of-history-at/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg) > [“It was a mistake in the system; perhaps it lay in the precept which until now he had held to be uncontestable,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-it-lay-in-the-precept-which/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f51/arthur-koestler-1903_failure_it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-i_2410689.jpg) > [The principle that the end justifies the means is and remains the only rule of political ethics; anything else is just a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the-means-is-and-remains-the/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/arthur-koestler-1903_ends_the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the_2768595.jpg) > [“It was quiet in the cell. Rubashov heard only the creaking of his steps on the tiles. Six and a half steps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard-only-the-creaking-of-his-2/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d75/arthur-koestler-1903_communism_it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard_3142577.jpg) ## More by Arthur Koestler > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The temptations of God were always more dangerous for mankind than those of Satan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-temptations-of-god-were-always-more-dangerous-for-mankind-than/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The greatest temptation for the like of us is: to renounce violence, to repent, to make peace with oneself. Most revolutionaries fell before this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-greatest-temptation-for-the-like-of-us-is-to-renounce-violence-to/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The revolutions of thought which shape the basic outlook of an age are not disseminated through text-books- they spread like epidemics, through contamination by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-revolutions-of-thought-which-shape-the-basic-outlook-of-an-age/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition. Such intuitions give the appearance of miraculous flushes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-moment-of-truth-the-sudden-emergence-of-a-new-insight-is-an-act/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Coincidence may be described as the chance encounter of two unrelated causal chains which - miraculously, it seems - merge into a significant event.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/coincidence-may-be-described-as-the-chance-encounter-of-two-unrelated/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-more-original-a-discovery-the-more-obvious-it-seems-afterwards/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [“Revolutionary theory had frozen to a dogmatic cult, with a simplified, easily graspable catechism, and with No. 1 as the high priest celebrating the Mass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/revolutionary-theory-had-frozen-to-a-dogmatic-cult-with-a-simplified/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Coincidence may be described as the chance encounter of two unrelated causal chains which](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/coincidence-may-be-described-as-the-chance-encounter-of-two-unrelated-2/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The more backwoodish a social group, juvenile or adult, the stricter its conception of the normal, and the readier it will ridicule any departure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-more-backwoodish-a-social-group-juvenile-or-adult-the-stricter/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [As modern physics started with the Newtonian revolution, so modern philosophy starts with what one might call the Cartesian Catastrophe. The catastrophe consisted in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/as-modern-physics-started-with-the-newtonian-revolution-so-modern/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [If one looks with a cold eye at the mess man has made of history, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/if-one-looks-with-a-cold-eye-at-the-mess-man-has-made-of-history-it/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The ultimate truth is penultimately always a falsehood. He who will be proved right in the end appears to be wrong and harmful before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-ultimate-truth-is-penultimately-always-a-falsehood-he-who-will-be/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The real achievement in discoveries... is seeing an analogy where no one saw one before... The essence of discovery is that unlikely marriage of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-real-achievement-in-discoveries-is-seeing-an-analogy-where-no-one/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [The jester is brother to the sage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-jester-is-brother-to-the-sage/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/#itemlist", "name": "4 End Justifies Quotes By Arthur Koestler", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is no other rule possible than the old one, that the end justifies the means.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Koestler" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-breathing-spaces-of-history-at/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing spaces of history; at its critical turning points there is…” — Arthur Koestler", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was a mistake in the system; perhaps it lay in the precept which until now he had held to be uncontestable, in whose name he had sacrificed others and was himself being sacrificed: in the precept, that the end justifies the means. . . . Perhaps later, much later, the new movement would arise—with new flags, a new spirit knowing of both: of economic fatality and the “oceanic sense.” Perhaps the members of the new party will wear monks’ cowls, and preach that only purity of means can justify the ends. Perhaps they will teach that the tenet is wrong which says that a man is the quotient of one million divided by one million, and will introduce a new kind of arithmetic based on multiplication: on the joining of a million individuals to form a new entity which, no longer an amorphous mass, will develop a consciousness and an individuality of its own, with an “oceanic feeling” increased a millionfold, in unlimited yet self-contained space. Rubashov broke off his pacing and listened. The sound of muffled drumming came down the corridor.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Koestler" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-it-lay-in-the-precept-which/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f51/arthur-koestler-1903_failure_it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-i_2410689.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f51/arthur-koestler-1903_failure_it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-i_2410689.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f51/arthur-koestler-1903_failure_it-was-a-mistake-in-the-system-perhaps-i_2410689.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was a mistake in the system; perhaps it lay in the precept which until now he had held to be…” — Arthur Koestler", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The principle that the end justifies the means is and remains the only rule of political ethics; anything else is just a vague chatter and melts away between one’s fingers.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Koestler" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the-means-is-and-remains-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/arthur-koestler-1903_ends_the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the_2768595.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/arthur-koestler-1903_ends_the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the_2768595.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/381/arthur-koestler-1903_ends_the-principle-that-the-end-justifies-the_2768595.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The principle that the end justifies the means is and remains the only rule of political ethics; anything…” — Arthur Koestler", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was quiet in the cell. Rubashov heard only the creaking of his steps on the tiles. Six and a half steps to the door, whence they must come to fetch him, six and a half steps to the window, behind which night was falling. Soon it would be over. But when he asked himself, For what actually are you dying? he found no answer. It was a mistake in the system; perhaps it lay in the precept which until now he had held to be uncontestable, in whose name he had sacrificed others and was himself being sacrificed: in the precept, that the end justifies the means. It was this sentence which had killed the great fraternity of the Revolution and made them run amuck. What had he once written in his diary? \"We have thrown overboard all conventions, our sole guiding principle is that of consequent logic; we are sailing without ethical ballast.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Arthur Koestler" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard-only-the-creaking-of-his-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d75/arthur-koestler-1903_communism_it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard_3142577.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d75/arthur-koestler-1903_communism_it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard_3142577.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d75/arthur-koestler-1903_communism_it-was-quiet-in-the-cell-rubashov-heard_3142577.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was quiet in the cell. Rubashov heard only the creaking of his steps on the tiles. Six and a half steps…” — Arthur Koestler", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/", "name": "End Justifies Quotes by Arthur Koestler", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f0/arthur-koestler-1903_breathing_politics-can-be-relatively-fair-in-the-b_1051466.jpg" }, "description": "4 End Justifies quotes by Arthur Koestler. Plus more from Arthur Koestler and more End Justifies sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "End Justifies", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Arthur Koestler", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/end-justifies/arthur-koestler/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```