Out of Africa (1937)
Context: The true aristocracy and the true proletariat of the world are both in understanding with tragedy. To them it is the fundamental principle of God, and the key, the minor key, to existence. They differ in this way from the bourgeoisie of all classes, who deny tragedy, who will not tolerate it, and to whom the word tragedy means in itself unpleasantness.
“The key to understanding Crowley is the same as the key to understanding the Marquis de Sade. Both wasted an immense amount of energy screaming defiance at the authority they resented so much, and lacked the insight to see that they were shaking their fists as at abstraction.”
Source: Aleister Crowley: The Nature of the Beast (1987), p. 29
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Colin Wilson 192
author 1931–2013Related quotes
Source: Aleister Crowley: The Nature of the Beast (1987), p. 153-154
“The key to understanding the future is one word: sustainability.”
Futurewise (1998)
“Understanding is the key to turning anything from a threat into an opportunity.”
Source: Ring (1994), Chapter 17 (p. 736)
Quantum Mechanics, The Key to Understanding Magnetism, Nobel Lecture http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1977/vleck-lecture.pdf (December 8, 1977)