Leszek Kolakowski Quotes on Time
Leszek Kolakowski was a Polish philosopher and the most influential critic of Marxism from within the Marxist tradition. This page collects quotes attributed to Leszek Kolakowski on the topic of time, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Leszek Kolakowski:
“Marxism is the greatest fantasy of the twentieth century.”
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Attributed to Leszek Kolakowski:
“Modernity is the culture of permanent self-criticism.”
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“We learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are.”
The Idolatry of Politics", U.S. Jefferson Lecture speech (1986) -
“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. We cannot get rid of this specter by saying it was just “human stupidity,” or “human corruptibility.” The specter is stronger than the spells we cast on it. It might come back to life.”
Introduction to My Correct Views on Everything