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Judgment consists not in seeing through deceptions and evil intentions, but in being able to awaken the decency dormant in every person. By Eric Hoffer Judgment Intentions Person Consists Deceptions

Discontent by itself does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. One of these is a sense of power. Those who are awed by their surroundings do not think of change, no matter how miserable their condition. When our mode of life is so precarious as to make it patent that we cannot control the circumstances of our existence, we tend to stick to the proven and the familiar. We counteract a deep feeling of insecurity by making of our existence a fixed routine. We hereby acquire the illusion that we have tamed the unpredictable. By Eric Hoffer Discontent Change Invariably Create Desire

Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom." By Eric Hoffer Burden Freedom Man Talents Make

To overestimate the originality of one's thoughts is perhaps a less serious defect than being unaware of their newness. There is a more pronounced lack of sensitivity in underestimating (ourselves and others) than in overestimating. By Eric Hoffer Newness Overestimate Originality Thoughts Defect

There is a tendency to judge a race, a nation or any distinct group by its leastworthy members. By Eric Hoffer Race Members Tendency Judge Nation

Even the sober desire for progress is sustained by faith - faith in the intrinsic goodness of human nature and in the omnipotence of science. It is a defiant and blasphemous faith, not unlike that held by the men who set out to build a "city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" and who believed that "nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. By Eric Hoffer Faith Science Sober Desire Progress

A peculiar side of credulity is that it is often joined with a proneness to imposture. The association of believing and lying is not characteristic solely of children. They inability or unwillingness to see things as they are promotes both gullibility and charlatanism. By Eric Hoffer Imposture Peculiar Side Credulity Joined

It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice. By Eric Hoffer Cowardice Fanatical Faith Rationalize

The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen will perish. By Eric Hoffer True Believer Individual Person Impression

The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity. By Eric Hoffer Deceitfulness Stupidity Hardest Thing Cope

You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness. By Eric Hoffer Accept Unlovely Things Manage Live

The atheist is a religious person. He believes in atheism as though it were a new religion. According to Renan, "The day after that on which the world should no longer believe in God, atheists would be the wretchedest of all men." By Eric Hoffer Person Religious Renan God Religion

When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or not, their main purpose is the elimination or neutralization of the independent individual- the independent voter, consumer, worker, owner, thinker- and that every device they employ aims at turning men into a manipulable animated instrument which is Aristotle's definition of a slave. By Eric Hoffer Consumer Worker Owner Thinker Independent

The remarkable thing is that it is the crowded life that is most easily remembered. A life full of turns, achievements, disappointments, surprises, and crises is a life full of landmarks. The empty life has even its few details blurred, and cannot be remembered with certainty. By Eric Hoffer Life Full Remarkable Thing Crowded

The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. God wishes, said Calvin, that one should put aside all humanity when it is a question of striving for His glory.. By Eric Hoffer Ruthlessness Calvin Born Selfseeking Ineffectual

Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication in the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves. By Eric Hoffer God Church Religion Holy Matter

We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are never of one kind, that we never love without reservations and never hate with all our being cannot prevent us from seeing others as wholly black or white. By Eric Hoffer Find Hard Apply Knowledge Judgment

However much we talk of the inexorable laws governing the life of individuals and of societies, we remain at the bottom convinced that in human affairs everything in more or less fortuitous. We do not even believe in the inevitability of our own death. Hence the difficulty of deciphering the present, of detecting the seeds of things to come as they germinate before our eyes. We are not attuned to seeing the inevitable. By Eric Hoffer Societies Fortuitous Talk Inexorable Laws

A ruling intelligentsia, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa, treats the masses as raw material to be experimented on, processed, and wasted at will. By Eric Hoffer Processed Europe Asia Africa Intelligentsia

In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect. By Eric Hoffer Substitute Life Man Absence Essential

We never say so much as when we do not quite know what we want to say. We need few words when we have something to say, but all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice when we have nothing to say and want desperately to say it. By Eric Hoffer Words Dictionaries Suffice Desperately

In products of the human mind, simplicity marks the end of a process of refining, while complexity marks a primitive stage. Michelangelo 's definition of art as the purgation of superfluities suggests that the creative effort consists largely in the elimination of that which complicates and confuses a pattern By Eric Hoffer Marks Mind Simplicity Refining Stage

One of the rules that emerges from a consideration of the factors that promote self-sacrifice is that we are less ready to die for what we have or are than for what we wish to have and to be. It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have "something worth fighting for," they do not feel like fighting. People who live full, worthwhile lives are not usually ready to die for their own interests nor for their country nor for a holy cause. By Eric Hoffer Die Ready Rules Emerges Consideration

It is a perplexing and unpleasant truth that when men already have something worth fighting for,they do not feel like fighting. By Eric Hoffer Fighting Perplexing Unpleasant Truth Men

What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored. By Eric Hoffer History Society Intellectual Craves Treated

Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity. By Eric Hoffer Perfect Free Affairs Human Freedom

The Jews are a peculiar people: Things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it. Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchmen. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chineseand no one says a word about refugees.But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace.Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. By Eric Hoffer People Things Israel Jews Nations

Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life. By Eric Hoffer Souls Currency Era Times Tolerance

That genius is a rare exception ( It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history; this is all I know for sure. By Eric Hoffer Exception True Genius Rare Talent

The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements. By Eric Hoffer Weak Breed Noble Hatred Striving

An easygoing person is probably more accessible to the realization of eternitythe endless flow of life and deaththan one who takes his prospects and duties overseriously. It is the overserious who are truly frivolous. By Eric Hoffer Overseriously Easygoing Person Accessible Realization

To believe that if we could have but this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the cause of our unhappiness is in our inadequate and blemished selves. Excessive desire is thus a means of suppressing our sense of worthlessness. By Eric Hoffer Happy Suppress Realization Unhappiness Inadequate

In a modern society people can live without hope only when kept dazed and out of breath by incessant hustling. By Eric Hoffer Hustling Modern Society People Live

That the deprecating attitude of a mass movement toward the present seconds the inclinations of the frustrated is obvious. What surprises one, when listening to the frustrated as they decry the present and all its works, is the enormous joy they derive from doing so. Such delight cannot come from the mere venting of a grievance. There must be something more -- and there is. By expatiating upon the incurable baseness and vileness of the times, the frustrated soften their feeling of failure and isolation. It is as if they said: 'Not only our blemished selves, but the lives of all our contemporaries, even the most happy and successful, are worthless and wasted.' Thus by deprecating the present they acquire a vague sense of equality. By Eric Hoffer Present Frustrated Obvious Attitude Mass

The Communist Manifesto condemned the bourgeoisie not only for pauperizing, dehumanizing, and enslaving the toiling masses, but also for robbing the intellectual of his elevated status. "The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe." Though the movement was initiated by intellectuals and powered by their talents and hungers, it yet held up the proletariat as the chosen people - the only carrier of the revolutionary idea, and the chief beneficiary of the revolution to come. The intellectuals, particularly those who had "raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole," were to act as guides - as a composite Moses - during the long wanderings in the desert. Like Moses, the intellectuals would have no more to do once the promised land was in sight. "The role of the intelligentsia," said Lenin, "is to make special leaders from among the intelligentsia unnecessary. By Eric Hoffer Communist Manifesto Intellectuals Bourgeoisie Moses

To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when we see ourselves as actors in a staged (and therefore unreal) performance that death loses its frightfulness and finality and becomes an act of make-believe and a theatrical gesture. It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or lighthearted dramatic performance. By Eric Hoffer Naked Thing Earth Heaven Worth

A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend. By Eric Hoffer Friend War Won Defeated Enemy

The true believer, no matter how rowdy and violent his acts, is basically an obedient and submissive person. By Eric Hoffer Believer Acts Person True Matter

Somewhere between the Angels and the French lies the rest of humanity. By Eric Hoffer Angels French Humanity Lies Rest

I could never figure out or probably did not take the trouble to figure out what the great philosophical problems are about. The momentous statements I come across are at best a storm in a teacup. There are quite a number of people who have a vested interest in the stuff, make a noble living out of it, and they conspire with one another to keep it alive. By Eric Hoffer Figure Trouble Great Philosophical Problems

A low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men. By Eric Hoffer Men Hand Low Capacity High

The autonomous individual, striving to realize himself and prove his worth, has created all that is great in literature, art, music, science and technology. The autonomous individual, also, when he can neither realize himself nor justify his existence by his own efforts, is a breeding call of frustration, and the seed of the convulsions which shake our world to its foundations. By Eric Hoffer Individual Art Music Autonomous Striving

People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have not" type of self. By Eric Hoffer Freedom People Type Desire Attribute

There is a grandeur in the uniformity of the mass. When a fashion, a dance, a song, a slogan or a joke sweeps like wildfire from one end of the continent to the other, and a hundred million people roar with laughter, sway their bodies in unison, hum one song or break forth in anger and denunciation, there is the overpowering feeling that in this country we have come nearer the brotherhood of man than ever before. By Eric Hoffer Mass Grandeur Uniformity Song Fashion

By all odds, earliest man, so naked to the elements and to deadly enemies, should have existed in a state of constant shock. We find him instead the only lighthearted being in a deadly serious universe ... He alone, with childish carelessness, tinkered and played, and exerted himself more in the pursuit of superfluities than of necessities. Yet the tinkering and playing, and the fascination with the nonessential, were a chief source of the inventiveness which enabled man to prevail over better-equipped and more-purposeful animals. By Eric Hoffer Deadly Odds Earliest Enemies Shock

Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality. By Eric Hoffer Laughter Begin Glee Misfortunes Schadenfreude

We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen. By Eric Hoffer Move Mountains Multitude Words Men

Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder. By Eric Hoffer Question Sight Dissenters Bundles Dusty

To believe that if only we had this or that we would be happy, or to pursue any excessive desire, diverts us from seeing that happiness depends on an adequate self. By Eric Hoffer Happy Desire Diverts Pursue Excessive

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business. By Eric Hoffer Mind Business Minding Man Worth

The chief burden of the frustrated is the consciousness of a blemished, ineffectual self, and their chief desire is to slough off the unwanted self and begin a new life. They try to realize this desire either by finding a new identity or by blurring and camouflaging their individual distinctness; and both these ends are reached by imitation. By Eric Hoffer Chief Blemished Ineffectual Life Desire

Seen as a process of imitation, it becomes understandable why the Westernization of a backward country so often breeds a violent antagonism toward the West. People who become like us do not necessarily love us. The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate - to surpass it, leave it behind, or, better still, eliminate it completely. Now and then in history the last was done first: the imitators began by destroying the model and then proceeded to imitate it. We are apparently most at ease when we imitate a defeated or dead model. By Eric Hoffer West Westernization Model Imitation Imitate

The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel themselves born to ride us. By Eric Hoffer Young Booted Spurred Feel Intellectuals

Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something. By Eric Hoffer World Cheating Missing Wonderful Feeling

Contrary to what one would expect, it is easier for the advanced to imitate the backward than the other way around. The backward and the weak see in imitation an act of submission and a proof of their inadequacy. They must rid themselves of their sense of inferiority, must demonstrate their prowess, before they will open their minds and hearts to all that the world can teach them. Most often in history it was the conquerors who learned willingly from the conquered. The backward, says de Tocqueville, "will go forth in arms to gain knowledge but will not receive it when it comes to them." Thus the grotesque truculence, posturing, conceit, brazenness, and defiance which usually assail our senses whenever a backward country sets out to modernize itself in a hurry stem partly from the desperate need of the weak for an illusion of strength and superiority if they are to imitate rapidly and easily. By Eric Hoffer Backward Contrary Expect Easier Advanced

There is apparently some connection between dissatisfaction with oneself and a proneness to credulity. The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a distaste for facts and cold logic. There is no hope for the frustrated in the actual and the possible. Salvation can come to them only from the miraculous, which seeps through a crack in the iron wall of inexorable reality. They ask to be deceived. What Stresemann said of the Germans is true of the frustrated in general: "They pray not only for their daily bread, but also for their daily illusion." The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led. By Eric Hoffer Credulity Urge Escape Apparently Connection

There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call extreme self-seeking is actually self-renunciation. The miser, health addict, glory chaser and their like are not far behind the selfless in the exercise of self-sacrifice. By Eric Hoffer Selfabnegation Selfish Passion Large Element

The liberal sees the present as the legitimate offspring of the past and as constantly growing and developing toward an improved future: to damage the present is to maim the future. All three then cherish the present, and, as one would expect, they do not take willingly to the idea of self-sacrifice. By Eric Hoffer Future Present Liberal Legitimate Offspring

There is perhaps some hope to be derived from the fact that in most instances where an attempt to realize an ideal society gave birth to the ugliness and violence of a prolonged active mass movement the experiment was made on a vast scale and with a heterogeneous population. Such was the case in the rise of Christianity and Islam, and in the French, Russian and Nazi revolutions. The promising communal settlements in the small state of Israel and the successful programs of socialization in the small Scandinavian states indicate perhaps that when the attempt to realize an ideal society is undertaken by a small nation with a more or less homogeneous population it can proceed and succeed in an atmosphere which is neither hectic nor coercive. By Eric Hoffer Realize Ideal Small Attempt Society

There is no reason why the profoundest thoughts should not make easy and exciting reading. A profound thought is an exciting thing as exciting as a detective's deductions or hunches. The simpler the words in which a thought is expressed the more stimulating its effect. By Eric Hoffer Exciting Reading Thought Reason Profoundest

We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression. By Eric Hoffer Win Weak Sharing Wealth Oppression

The radical and the reactionary loathe the present. They see it as an aberration and a deformity. Both are ready to proceed ruthlessly and recklessly with the present, and both are hospitable to the idea of self-sacrifice. By Eric Hoffer Present Radical Reactionary Loathe Deformity

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole. By Eric Hoffer Anxieties Barrenness Existence Rising Mass

Yet the need for justifying the wealth and power of great corporations in the eyes of the people has never been greater. Why not hark back to Florence, Venice, Antwerp and Amsterdam? The great corporations could devote wealth and energies to cleaning up, improving and adorning our cities. Each large corporation might adopt a city and vie with other corporations to see whose city shines brightest. In the center of each financial district there should be a large plaza in which periodically poets, singers, storytellers and artists of every sort would compete for rich prizes. The corporations should see it as their duty to spot and encourage talent, and celebrate greatness. There should be social intimacy between the powerful and the creative. By Eric Hoffer Corporations Greater Wealth Great Venice

The differences between the conservative and the radical seem tospring mainly from their attitude toward the future. Fear of thefuture causes us to lean against and cling to the present, while faithin the future renders us receptive to change. By Eric Hoffer Future Differences Conservative Radical Tospring

It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations past and present are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual's hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained unchanged through the millenia. By Eric Hoffer Timeless Individual Societies Cultures Anxieties

Though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. By Eric Hoffer Age Irreligious Godless Opposite

The birth of the new constitutes a crisis, and its mastery calls for a crude and simple cast of mind the mind of a fighter in which the virtues of tribal cohesion and fierceness and infantile credulity and malleability are paramount. Thus every new beginning recapitulates in some degree man's first beginning. By Eric Hoffer Mind Crisis Paramount Birth Constitutes

Man's chief goal in life is still to become and stay human, and defend his achievements against the encroachment of nature. By Eric Hoffer Man Human Nature Chief Goal

People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident. To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. By Eric Hoffer People Selfconfident Lives Barren Insecure

Woe to him inside a non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity. By Eric Hoffer Woe Nonconformity Inside Nonconformist Clique

How rare it is to come across a piece of writing that is unambiguous, unqualified, and also unblurred by understatements or subtleties, and yet at the same time urbane and tolerant. It is a vice of the scientific method when applied to human affairs that it fosters hemming and hawing and a scrupulousness that easily degenerates into obscurity and meaninglessness. By Eric Hoffer Unqualified Unambiguous Subtleties Tolerant Rare

The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders. By Eric Hoffer Appetites Vanity Persuaders Real Fears

Call not that man wretched, who whatever ills he suffers, has a child to love. By Eric Hoffer Call Wretched Suffers Love Man

When you automate an industry you modernize it; when you automate a life you primitivize it. By Eric Hoffer Automate Industry Modernize Life Primitivize

There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being his jail-keeper. By Eric Hoffer Jailkeeper Chance Sets Brother Keeper

To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him By Eric Hoffer Hatred Wrong Hate Add Fuel

Those who fail in everyday affairs show a tendency to reach out for the impossible. It is a device to camouflage their shortcomings. For when we fail in attempting the possible, the blame is solely ours; but when we fail in attempting the impossible, we are justified in attributing it to the magnitude of the task. There is less risk in being discredited when trying the impossible than when trying the possible. It is thus that failure in everyday affairs often breeds an extravagant audacity. One By Eric Hoffer Fail Impossible Everyday Show Tendency

If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences. By Eric Hoffer Accomplished Sentences Written Good

Totalitarianism spells simplification: an enormous reduction in the variety of aims, motives, interests, human types, and, above all, in the categories and units of power. By Eric Hoffer Motives Interests Totalitarianism Simplification Aims

The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. When we ascribe the success of a movement to its faith, doctrine, propaganda, leadership, ruthlessness and so on, we are but referring to instruments of unification and to means used to inculcate a readiness for self-sacrifice. By Eric Hoffer Selfsacrifice Movement Vigor Mass Stems

Good and evil grow up together and are bound in an equilibrium that cannot be sundered. The most we can do is try to tilt the equilibrium toward the good. By Eric Hoffer Sundered Good Equilibrium Evil Grow

The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents. By Eric Hoffer Talents Gifted Members Human Species

The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing west offers to backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. All the advantages brought by the West are ineffectual substitutes for the sheltering and soothing anonymity of communal existence. By Eric Hoffer West Frustration Ideal Selfadvancement Civilizing

Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society . By Eric Hoffer True Collective Unity Result Brotherly

Actual creativeness is a matter of moments. One has to piece together the minute grains to make a lump. And it is so easy to miss the momentary flashes, it is like sluicing in placer mining. He who lets the flakes float by has nothing to show for his trouble. By Eric Hoffer Actual Moments Creativeness Matter Lump

In an adequate social order, the untalented should be able to acquire a sense of usefulness and of growth without interfering with the development of talent around them By Eric Hoffer Order Adequate Social Untalented Acquire

Starting out from the fact that the frustrated predominate among the early adherents of all mass movements and that they usually join of their own accord, it is assumed:1) that frustration of itself, without any proselytizing prompting from the outside, can generate most of the peculiar characteristics of the true believer;2) that an effective technique of conversion consists basically in the inculcation and fixation of proclivities and responses indigenous to the frustrated mind. By Eric Hoffer Frustrated Starting Accord Assumed Believer

The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto. By Eric Hoffer Principle Fanatic Stickler Embraces Primarily

When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives. By Eric Hoffer Worth Desperate Individual Interests Prospects

It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction. By Eric Hoffer Skills Irrespective Utility Meaningful Acquisition

Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil. By Eric Hoffer God Belief Mass Devil Movements

The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind. By Eric Hoffer Stalin Women Lenin Hitler Men

When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom - freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. By Eric Hoffer Bully Lie Torture Movement Hate

When we are in competition with ourselves, and match our todays against our yesterdays, we derive encouragement from past misfortunes and blemishes. Moreover, the competition with ourselves leaves unimpaired our benevolence toward our fellow men. By Eric Hoffer Yesterdays Blemishes Competition Match Todays

One is not quite certain that creativeness in the arts, literature, and science functions best in an environment of absolute freedom. Chances are that a relatively mild tyranny stimulates creativeness. By Eric Hoffer Literature Arts Freedom Creativeness Science

The enemy - the indispensible devil of every mass movement - is omnipresent. He plots both outside and inside the ranks of the faithful. It is his voice that speaks through the mouth of the dissenter, and the deviationists are his stooges. If anything goes wrong within the movement, it is his doing. It is the sacred duty of the true believer to be suspicious. He must be constantly on the lookout for saboteurs, spies and traitors. By Eric Hoffer Enemy Omnipresent Movement Indispensible Devil

The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt. By Eric Hoffer Creatures Deserving Punishment Extermination Effective

It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. By Eric Hoffer Opportunities Holds True Man Uniquely

Marriage has for women many equivalents of joining a mass movement. It offers them a new purpose in life, a new future and a new identity (a new name). The boredom of spinsters and of women who can no longer find joy and fulfillment in marriage stems from an awareness of a barren, spoiled life. By embracing a holy cause and dedicating their energies and substance to its advancement, they find a new life full of purpose and meaning. By Eric Hoffer Life Movement Equivalents Joining Mass

Conservatism is sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who have nothing in them that can grow and develop must cling to what they have in beliefs, ideas and possessions. The sterile radical, too, is basically conservative. He is afraid to let go of the ideas and beliefs he picked up in his youth lest his life be seen as empty and wasted. By Eric Hoffer Conservatism Sterility Symptom Ideas Beliefs

Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream. By Eric Hoffer Doubts Banished Working Thing Bloodstream

We acquire a sense of worth either by realizing our talents, or by keeping busy, or by identifying ourselves with something apart from usbe it a cause, a leader, a group, possessions and the like. Of the three, the path of self-realization is the most difficult. It is taken only when other avenues to a sense of worth are more or less blocked. Men of talent have to be encouraged and goaded to engage in creative work. Their groans and laments echo through the ages. Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem. By Eric Hoffer Sense Busy Leader Group Possessions

For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power. They must also have an extravagant conception of the prospects and the potentialities of the future. Finally, they must be wholly ignorant of the difficulties involved in their vast undertaking. Experience is a handicap. By Eric Hoffer Change Destitute Doctrine Infallible Power

A plant needs roots in order to grow. With man it is the other way around: only when he grows does he have roots and feels at home in the world. By Eric Hoffer Roots Plant Order World Grow

The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax. By Eric Hoffer Sick Operate Soul Insist Surgeons

One wonders whether a generation that demands instant satisfaction of all its needs and instant solution of the world's problems will produce anything of lasting value. Such a generation, even when equipped with the most modern technology, will be essentially primitive it will stand in awe of nature, and submit to the tutelage of medicine men. By Eric Hoffer Instant Generation Demands Satisfaction Solution

The leader personifies the certitude of the creed and the defiance and grandeur of power. He articulates and justifies the resentment damned up in the souls of the frustrated. He kindles the vision of a breath-taking future so as to justify the sacrifice of a transitory present. He stages a world of make-believe so indispensable for the realization of self-sacrifice and united action. By Eric Hoffer Power Leader Personifies Certitude Creed

The necessary has never been man's top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness. Unlike other forms of life, man's greatest exertions are made in the pursuit not of necessities but of superfluities. By Eric Hoffer Priority Top Man Pursuit Uniqueness

Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat. By Eric Hoffer Action Afloat Bottom Swinging Flailing

They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society. The frustrated, oppressed by their shortcomings, blame their failure on existing restraints. Actually their innermost desire is for an end to the "free for all." They want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society. 29 By Eric Hoffer Free Society Clamor Loudest Freedom

A sublime religion inevitably generates a strong feeling of guilt. There is an unavoidable contrast between loftiness of profession and imperfection of practice. And, as one would expect, the feeling of guilt promotes hate and brazenness. Thus it seems that the more sublime the faith the more virulent the hatred it breeds. By Eric Hoffer Feeling Guilt Religion Inevitably Generates

Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence. By Eric Hoffer Weak Unlike Life Strong Pattern

The Renaissance was a time of mercenary soldiers, ours is a time of mercenary labor. By Eric Hoffer Time Renaissance Mercenary Soldiers Labor

The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully. By Eric Hoffer Gracefully Part Art Living Grow

And what of the masses in this intellectual's paradise? They have found in the intellectual the most formidable taskmaster in history. No other regime has treated the masses so callously as raw material, to be experimented on and manipulated at will; and never before have so many lives been wasted so recklessly in war and in peace. On top of all this, the Communist intelligentsia has been using force in a wholly novel manner. The traditional master uses force to exact obedience and lets it go at that. Not so the intellectual. Because of his professed faith in the power of words and the irresistibility of the truths which supposedly shape his course, he cannot be satisfied with mere obedience. He tries to obtain by force a response that is usually obtained by the most perfect persuasion, and he uses Terror as a fearful instrument to extract faith and fervor from crushed souls. By Eric Hoffer Intellectual Paradise Masses Force Obedience

A person's creative ability decreases in direct proportion to the degree to which he takes himself seriously. By Eric Hoffer Person Creative Ability Decreases Direct

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn. By Eric Hoffer Learn Malady Age Young Busy

When the Greeks said, Whom the gods love die young, they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful. By Eric Hoffer Gods Young Greeks Lord Sankey

The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause. By Eric Hoffer Excellence Nation Religion Justified Man

The short-lived self, teetering on the edge of extinction, is the only thing that can ever really matter. By Eric Hoffer Teetering Extinction Matter Shortlived Edge

A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness. By Eric Hoffer Society Wrongs Undertaking Strive Righting

In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. By Eric Hoffer Change Learners Earth Exists Times

Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from. By Eric Hoffer God Sky Stars Impulse Passionate

The indispensability of play-acting in the grim business of dying and killing is particularly evident in the case of armies. Their uniforms, flags, emblems, parades, music, and elaborate etiquette and ritual are designed to separate the soldier from his flesh-and-blood self and mask the overwhelming reality of life and death. By Eric Hoffer Armies Indispensability Playacting Grim Business

The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in which the idea is overcome. By Eric Hoffer Direct Link Action Rarely Overcome

The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than because of their immediate feeling that he is leading them away from their unwanted selves. Surrender to a leader is not a means to an end but a fulfillment. Whither they are led is of secondary importance. By Eric Hoffer Leading Leader Frustrated Follow Faith

In human affairs every solution serves only to sharpen the problem, to show us more clearly what we are up against. There are no final solutions. By Eric Hoffer Problem Human Affairs Serves Sharpen

Man is eminently a storyteller. His search for a purpose, a cause, an ideal, a mission and the like is largely a search for a plot and a pattern in the development of his life story - a story that is basically without meaning or pattern. By Eric Hoffer Man Storyteller Eminently Search Pattern

The great crimes of the twentieth century were committed not by money-grubbing capitalists but by dedicated idealists. Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler were contemptuous of money. The passage from the nineteenth to the twentieth century has been a passage from considerations of money to considerations of power. By Eric Hoffer Idealists Twentieth Stalin Century Great

The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new ... is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new. By Eric Hoffer Rear Difficult Risky Task Meeting

No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments. We need people to bear witness against our inner judge, who keeps book on our shortcomings and transgressions. We need people to convince us that we are not as bad as we think we are. By Eric Hoffer Moments People Matter Achievements Rare

Even in slight things the experience of the new is rarely without some stirring of foreboding. By Eric Hoffer Foreboding Slight Things Experience Rarely

You cannot gauge the intelligence of an American by talking with him; you must work with him. The American polishes and refines his way of doing things-even the most commonplace-the way the French of the 17th century polished their maxims. By Eric Hoffer American Gauge Intelligence Talking Work

Peter the Great was probably the equal, in dedication, power and ruthlessness, of many of the most successful revolutionary or nationalist leaders. Yet he failed in his chief purpose, which was to turn Russia into a Western nation. And the reason he failed was that he did not infuse the Russian masses with some soul-stirring enthusiasm. He either did not think it necessary or did not know how to make of his purpose a holy cause. It is not strange that the Bolshevik revolutionaries who wiped out the last of the Czars and Romanovs should have a sense of kinship with Peter - a Czar and a Romanov. For his purpose is now theirs, and they hope to succeed where he failed. The Bolshevik revolution may figure in history as much an attempt to modernize a sixth of the world's surface as an attempt to build a Communist economy. The By Eric Hoffer Great Failed Purpose Equal Dedication

Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse. By Eric Hoffer Power Individual Impairment Device Employed

Rudeness is the weak man's limitation of strength. By Eric Hoffer Rudeness Strength Weak Man Limitation

Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation. By Eric Hoffer Fair Practice Play Primarily Blaming

Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us. By Eric Hoffer Fair Play Primarily Blaming Wrong

Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world. By Eric Hoffer World Individual Terms Dispassionate Attitude

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation. By Eric Hoffer Disappointment Expectation Bankruptcy Sort Soul

The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Worthless Pleasure Derive Favors Partly

It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world. By Eric Hoffer World Love Hatred Root Troubles

Things which are not" are indeed mightier than "things that are". In all ages men have fought most desperately for beautiful cities yet to be built and gardens yet to be planted. By Eric Hoffer Things Mightier Planted Ages Men

To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do; to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition. By Eric Hoffer Freedom Opportunity Condition True Grow

A nation without dregs and malcontents is orderly, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come. By Eric Hoffer Orderly Peaceful Pleasant Nation Dregs

The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine however profound and sublime will be effective unless it is presented as the embodiment of the one and only truth By Eric Hoffer Certitude Doctrine Effectiveness Meaning Truth

Whoever originated the cliche that money is the root of all evil knew hardly anything about the nature of evil and very little about human beings. By Eric Hoffer Evil Originated Cliche Money Root

A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation. By Eric Hoffer Satisfy Selfadvancement Selfrenunciation Mass Movement

The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything elsewe are the busiest people in the world. By Eric Hoffer Life Time Feeling Hurried Result

It is the stretched soul that makes music, and souls are stretched by the pull of opposites-opposite bents, tastes, yearnings, loyalties. Where there is no polarity-where energies flow smoothly in one direction-there will be much doing but no music. By Eric Hoffer Tastes Yearnings Loyalties Music Bents

It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words. By Eric Hoffer Words Imitate Reflection Eyes Echo

With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves. By Eric Hoffer People Solitariness Escape Eyes Reflection

It is probably true that business corrupts everything it touches. It corrupts politics, sports, literature, art, labor unions and so on. But business also corrupts and undermines monolithic totalitarianism. Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. By Eric Hoffer Touches Corrupts True Business Sports

The main effect of a real revolution is perhaps that it sweeps away those who do not know how to wish, and brings to the front men with insatiable appetites for action, power and all that the world has to offer. By Eric Hoffer Action Power Offer Main Effect

The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. By Eric Hoffer Worth Action Individual Vital Insatiable

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. By Eric Hoffer Opposite Religious Fanatic Fanatical Atheist

Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled. By Eric Hoffer Selfesteem Odors Smelled Selfcontempt Specific

It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only God whose one and only people they were to be. By Eric Hoffer People Hebrews God Craving Impelled

We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire. By Eric Hoffer Escape Fire Feel Free Frying

The nineteenth century planted the words which the twentieth century ripened into the atrocities of Stalin and Hitler. There is hardly an atrocity committed in the twentieth century that was not foreshadowed or even advocated by some noble man of words in the nineteenth. By Eric Hoffer Hitler Stalin Century Twentieth Nineteenth

The men who rush into undertakings of vast change usually feel they are in possession of some irresistible power. The generation that made the French Revolution had an extravagant conception of the omnipotence of man's reason and the boundless range of his intelligence. Never, says de Tocqueville, had humanity been prouder of itself nor had it ever so much faith in its own omnipotence. By Eric Hoffer Power Men Rush Undertakings Vast

Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. By Eric Hoffer Compassion Stands Continuous Traffic Good

There is need for some kind of make-believe in order to face death unflinchingly. To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. By Eric Hoffer Unflinchingly Kind Makebelieve Order Face

Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us. By Eric Hoffer Israel Perish Holocaust

My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting. By Eric Hoffer Waiting Freight Truck Lunch Writing

The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together. By Eric Hoffer People Learning Central Task Education

The original insight is most likely to come when elements stored in different compartments of the mind drift into the open, jostle one another, and now and then form new combinations. By Eric Hoffer Open Jostle Combinations Original Insight

The trouble is not chiefly that our universities are unfit for students but that many present-day students are unfit for universities. By Eric Hoffer Unfit Universities Students Trouble Chiefly

The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself. By Eric Hoffer Individual Justify Existence Efforts Eternal

Nothing so offends the doctrinaire intellectual as our ability to achieve the momentous in a matter-of-fact way, unblessed by words. By Eric Hoffer Unblessed Words Offends Doctrinaire Intellectual

People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both. By Eric Hoffer People Grievance Haunted Purposelessness Lives

Passionate hatreds can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. These people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. By Eric Hoffer Passionate Life Hatreds Give Meaning

Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life. By Eric Hoffer Americans Wholeheartedly Life Begin Hate

Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for freedom, it is but freedom to establish equality and uniformity. By Eric Hoffer Freedom Equality Lives Spoiled Wasted

The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life. By Eric Hoffer Busy Majority Prove Worth Keeping

Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet. By Eric Hoffer End Poles Opposite Kinds Crowded

In the countryside where the communal pattern was least disturbed, the new religion found the ground less favorable. The villagers (pagani) and the heath-dwellers (heathen) clung longest to the ancient cults. By Eric Hoffer Disturbed Favorable Countryside Communal Pattern

Most often in history it was the conquerors who learned willingly from the conquered. By Eric Hoffer Conquered History Conquerors Learned Willingly

The revulsion from an unwanted self, and the impulse to forget it, mask it, slough it off and lose it, produce both a readiness to sacrifice the self and a willingness to dissolve it by losing one's individual distinctness in a compact collective whole. By Eric Hoffer Mask Slough Produce Revulsion Unwanted

If anything ail a man," says Thoreau, "so that he does not perform his functions, if he have a pain in his bowels even ... he forthwith sets about reforming - the world."3 By Eric Hoffer Thoreau Man Functions Ail Perform

The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients. By Eric Hoffer Minds Truth Propaganda Force Unwilling

The genuine creator creates something that has a life of its own, something that can exist and function without him. This is true not only of the writer, artist and scientist, but of creators in other fields.With the noncreative it is the other way around: in whatever they do, they arrange things so that they themselves become indispensable. By Eric Hoffer Genuine Creates Life Exist Function

They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor. (Eric Hoffer 1902-1983) By Eric Hoffer Effort Lack Talent Expect Things

The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets. By Eric Hoffer Turn Puppets Savior Men Angels

No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion; it is an evil government. By Eric Hoffer Government Kindness Cheapens Life Suspicion

It is a paradox that in our time of drastic rapid change, when the future is in our midst devouring the present before our eyes, we have never been less certain about what is ahead of us. By Eric Hoffer Change Eyes Paradox Time Drastic

A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self. By Eric Hoffer Doctrine Insulates Devout Realities Malice

The permanent misfits can find salvation only in a complete separation from the self; and they usually find it by losing themselves in the compact collectivity of a mass movement. By Eric Hoffer Find Movement Permanent Misfits Salvation

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. By Eric Hoffer Corrupts Power Weakness

Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity. By Eric Hoffer Purposes Absolute Power Corrupts Exercised

Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. By Eric Hoffer Power Absolute Faith Corrupts Absolutely

All prayers and hopes are a reaching-out for coincidences. By Eric Hoffer Coincidences Prayers Hopes Reachingout

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket. By Eric Hoffer Movement Business Racket Great Begins

Practically all writers and artists are aware of their destiny and see themselves as actors in a fateful drama. With me, nothing is momentous: obscure youth, glorious old age, fateful coincidences - nothing really matters. I have written a number of good sentences. I have kept free of delusions. I know I am going to die soon. By Eric Hoffer Practically Drama Fateful Writers Artists

If free enterprise becomes a proselytizing holy cause, it will be a sign that its workability and advantages have ceased to be self-evident. By Eric Hoffer Selfevident Free Enterprise Proselytizing Holy

We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not. By Eric Hoffer Things

A good sentence is a key . It unlocks the mind of the reader. By Eric Hoffer Key Reader Good Sentence Unlocks

A multitude of words is probably the most formidable means of blurring and obscuring thought. There is no thought, however momentous, that cannot be expressed lucidly in 200 words. By Eric Hoffer Thought Words Multitude Formidable Blurring

An effective mass movement cultivates the idea of sin. It depicts the autonomous self not only as barren and helpless but also as vile. To confess and repent is to slough off one's individual distinctness and separateness, and salvation is found by losing oneself in the holy oneness of the congregation. By Eric Hoffer Sin Effective Mass Movement Cultivates

The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the doubt within than the assailant without. By Eric Hoffer Conviction Uncompromising Attitude Indicative Uncertainty

The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world. By Eric Hoffer Leadership Quality Ideas Play Minor

On the other hand, there is no more potent dwarfing of the present than by viewing it as a mere link between a glorious past and a glorious future. Thus, though a mass movement at first turns its back on the past, it eventually develops a vivid awareness, often specious, of a distant glorious past. Religious movements go back to the day of creation; social revolutions tell of a golden age when men were free, equal, and independent; nationalist movements revive or invent memories of past greatness. By Eric Hoffer Glorious Past Hand Future Potent

The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist. By Eric Hoffer Realist Idealist Leader Practical Talk

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future. By Eric Hoffer Future Predict Power Shape

There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless. By Eric Hoffer Selfesteem Selfless Doubt Exchanging Selfcentered

rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring on them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves - and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole. It By Eric Hoffer Rising Anxieties Barrenness Existence Mass

If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope. By Eric Hoffer Communists Europe World Hatred Hope

It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned. By Eric Hoffer Suffer Heat Shunned Talent Weak

The pre-human creature from which man evolved was unlike any other living thing in its malicious viciousness toward its own kind. Humanization was not a leap forward but a groping toward survival. By Eric Hoffer Kind Prehuman Creature Man Evolved

The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility By Eric Hoffer Poor Borderline Starvation Purposeful Live

Those who would transform a nation or the world cannot do so by breeding and captaining discontent or by demonstrating the reasonableness and desirability of the intended changes or by coercing people into a new way of life. They must know how to kindle and fan an extravagant hope. By Eric Hoffer Life Transform Nation World Breeding

First something is a great idea, then it becomes a cause, then it becomes a business and finally it becomes a racket. By Eric Hoffer Idea Racket Great Business Finally

Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible. By Eric Hoffer Acquiring Wise Habits Living Consists

The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others. The creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop the strongest proselytizing impulse. By Eric Hoffer Proselytizing Fanatic Strengthens Faith Converting

There is nothing more explosive than a skilled population condemned to inaction. Such a population is likely to become a hotbed of extremism and intolerance, and be receptive to any proselytizing ideology, however absurd and vicious, which promises vast action. By Eric Hoffer Inaction Population Explosive Skilled Condemned

Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already have. It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others. By Eric Hoffer Search Passionate Found Desire Bestow

To think out a problem is not unlike drawing a caricature. You have to exaggerate the salient point and leave out that which is not typical. "To illustrate a principle ," says Bagehot , "you must exaggerate much and you must omit much." As to the quantity of absolute truth in a thought : it seems to me the more comprehensive and unobjectionable a thought becomes, the more clumsy and unexciting it gets. I like half-truths of a certain kind they are interesting and they stimulate. By Eric Hoffer Caricature Problem Unlike Drawing Exaggerate

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate. By Eric Hoffer Brand Action Opiate Hope Prompts

The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle. By Eric Hoffer Middle Game History Played Worst

It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of life and turn it into an orthodoxy which stifles all stirrings of originality. By Eric Hoffer Originality Fate Great Achievement Pounced

The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate. By Eric Hoffer Resentment Sense Inferiority Inherent Act

Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults. By Eric Hoffer Responsibilities Young Ten Skills Grownups

Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength. By Eric Hoffer Rudeness Strength Weak Imitation

Rudeness is a weak persons imitation of strength. By Eric Hoffer Rudeness Strength Weak Persons Imitation

It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others. By Eric Hoffer Freedom Fight Doubtful Oppressed Pride

Universities are an example of organizations dominated wholly by intellectuals; yet, outside pure science, they have not been an optimal milieu for the unfolding of creative talents. In neither art, music, literature, technology and social theory, nor planning have the Universities figured as originators or as seedbeds of new talents and energies. By Eric Hoffer Intellectuals Science Universities Talents Organizations

The chemistry of dissatisfaction is as the chemistry of some marvelously potent tar. In it are the building stones of explosives, stimulants, poisons, opiates, perfumes and stenches. By Eric Hoffer Chemistry Tar Dissatisfaction Marvelously Potent

The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Hate Remarkable Thing Love Neighbor

All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium. By Eric Hoffer Unification Mass Avail Action Movements

If a society is to preserve stability and a degree of continuity, it must learn how to keep its adolescents from imposing their tastes, values, and fantasies on everyday life. By Eric Hoffer Continuity Tastes Life Society Preserve

No totalitarian censor can approach the implacability of the censor who controls the line of communication between the outer world and our consciousness. Nothing is allowed to reach us which might weaken our confidence and lower our morale. To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. By Eric Hoffer Censor Consciousness Totalitarian Approach Implacability

It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living. By Eric Hoffer Living Sign Creeping Death Longer

To lose one's life is but to lose the present; and, clearly, to lose a defiled, worthless present is not to lose much. By Eric Hoffer Lose Present Defiled Worthless Life

For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shaping the world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or against him, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature and potentialities. By Eric Hoffer Age Irreligious Godless Opposite March

The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ. By Eric Hoffer Writ Facts True Believer Bases

It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. By Eric Hoffer Startling Realize Unbelief Make Belief

The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. By Eric Hoffer Party True Believer Church Nation

To a man utterly without a sense of belonging, mere life is all that matters. It is the only reality in an eternity of nothingness, and he clings to it with shameless despair. By Eric Hoffer Belonging Mere Matters Man Utterly

The wisdom of others remains dull till it is writ over with our own blood. We are essentially apart from the world; it bursts into our consciousness only when it sinks its teeth and nails into us. By Eric Hoffer Blood Wisdom Remains Dull Till

There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. By Eric Hoffer Impulses Powerful Craving Instruments Hands

Our present addiction to pollsters and forecasters is a symptom of our chronic uncertainty about the future ... We watch our experts read the entrails of statistical tables and graphs the way the ancients watched their soothsayers read the entrails of a chicken. By Eric Hoffer Future Entrails Present Addiction Pollsters

Unity and self-sacrifice, of themselves, even when fostered by the most noble means, produce a facility for hating. Even when men league themselves mightily together to promote tolerance and peace on earth, they are likely to be violently intolerant toward those not of a like mind. By Eric Hoffer Unity Selfsacrifice Produce Hating Fostered

The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self. By Eric Hoffer Abundant Untalented Society Opportunities Ease

Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of man, we usually reach the realm of play. By Eric Hoffer Man Play Trace Origin Skill

The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor. By Eric Hoffer Selfconfidence Real Acquire Depriving Riches

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet. By Eric Hoffer Minds Chaste Meet Copulate

Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. By Eric Hoffer Selfesteem Adjustment Crisis

We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for. By Eric Hoffer Give Meaning Suffering Purpose Life

Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Selfcontempt Vague Sharpens Eyes Imperfections

The ratio between supervisory and producing personnel is always highest where the intellectuals are in power. In a Communist country it takes half the population to supervise the other half. By Eric Hoffer Power Ratio Supervisory Producing Personnel

We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries more weight than our self-interest. By Eric Hoffer Support Greater Love Selfinterest Vanity

Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no guarantee of eventual success By Eric Hoffer Success Successful Person Repeated Guarantee

A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities. By Eric Hoffer Necessities Society Refuses Strive Superfluities

Intolerance is the 'Do Not Touch' sign on something that cannot bear touching. We do not mind having our hair ruffled, but we will not tolerate any familiarity with the toupee which covers our baldness. By Eric Hoffer Touch Intolerance Sign Touching Bear

It is this fact which gives America its utter newness. All civilizations we know of were shaped by exclusive minorities of kings, nobles, priests, and the equivalents of the intellectual. It was they who formulated the ideals, aspirations, and values, and it was they who set the tone. America is the only instance of a civilization shaped and colored by the tastes and values of common folk. No elite of whatever nature can feel truly at home in America. This is true not only of the aristocrat proper, but also of the intellectual, the military leader, the business tycoon, and even the labor leader. By Eric Hoffer America Newness Fact Utter Intellectual

It is perhaps true that the criminal who embraces a holy cause is more ready to risk his life and go to extremes in its defense than people who are awed by the sanctity of life and property. By Eric Hoffer Life Property True Criminal Embraces

More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers compose unintelligible music is that people should admire what they cannot understand; indeed, admire that which has no meaning or principle. By Eric Hoffer Admire Abstrusely Painters Abstractly Understand

It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and hopes. There is a stubborn effort in us to set up a compact screen between consciousness and the self. By Eric Hoffer Fears Intentions Hopes Apparently Vital

Poverty when coupled with creativeness is usually free of frustration. This is true of the poor artisan skilled in his trade and of the poor writer, artist, and scientist in the full possession of creative powers. Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create; to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out. The decline of handicrafts in modern times is perhaps one of the causes for the rise of frustration and the increased susceptibility of the individual to mass movements. By Eric Hoffer Poverty Coupled Creativeness Free Poor

Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own ... Whether it our own meaningless self we are upholding, or some doctrine devoid of evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith. By Eric Hoffer Vehemence Expression Blind Effort Support

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, irrespective of the doctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance; all of them are capable of releasing a powerful flow of activity in certain departments of life; all of them demand blind faith and singlehearted allegiance. By Eric Hoffer Enthusiasm Action Irrespective Project Breed

There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive. By Eric Hoffer Passions Shrinking Fugitive Passionate Pursuer

Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the passivity and predictability of matter. By this test, absolute power is the manifestation most inimical to human uniqueness. Absolute power wants to turn people into malleable clay. By Eric Hoffer Absolute Freedom Man Thing Matter

When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. By Eric Hoffer Streets Doors Shutter Passed Hopes

Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible. By Eric Hoffer Man Impossible Creature Strives Surpass

The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself. By Eric Hoffer Desire Oneself Belong Partly Lose

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be. By Eric Hoffer Cats Animals Dogs Horses Learn

To grow old is to grow common. Old age equalizes we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time. When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world. By Eric Hoffer Grow Common Young Time Age

The Paleolithic hunters who painted the unsurpassed animal murals on the ceiling of the cave at Altamira had only rudimentary tools. Art is older than production for use, and play older than work. Man was shaped less by what he had to do than by what he did in playful moments. It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities. By Eric Hoffer Paleolithic Altamira Tools Hunters Painted

To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past. By Eric Hoffer Precise Coherent Predictable Man History

One cannot escape the impression that the intellectual's most fundamental incompatibility is with the masses. He has managed to thrive in social orders dominated by kings, nobles, priests, and merchants, but not in societies suffused with the tastes and values of the masses. By Eric Hoffer Masses Escape Impression Intellectual Fundamental

To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could conceive an all-powerful God who obeys his own laws. By Eric Hoffer Arbitrariness Excessively Fearful Chief Characteristic

The education explosion is producing a vast number of people who want to live significant, important lives but lack the ability to satisfy this craving for importance by individual achievement. The country is being swamped with nobodies who want to be somebodies. By Eric Hoffer Significant Important Achievement Education Explosion

Creativity is discontent translated into arts. By Eric Hoffer Creativity Arts Discontent Translated

Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create; to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out. By Eric Hoffer Day Create Hand Bolsters Selfconfidence

Ours is a golden age of minorities. At no time in the past have dissident minorities felt so much at home and had so much room to throw their weight around. They speak and act as if they were "the people," and what they abominate most is the dissent of the majority. By Eric Hoffer Minorities Golden Age Time Past

The hatred and cruelty which have their source in selfishness are ineffectual things compared with the venom and ruthlessness born of selflessness. By Eric Hoffer Selflessness Hatred Cruelty Source Selfishness

Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard. By Eric Hoffer Children Savages Heard True Believers

Both Faith and Terror are instruments for the elimination of individual self-respect. Terror crushes the autonomy of self-respect, where Faith obtains its more or less voluntary surrender. In both cases, the result of the elimination of individual autonomy is - automatism. Both Faith and Terror reduce the human entity to a formula that can be manipulated at will. By Eric Hoffer Faith Terror Selfrespect Elimination Individual

Radicalism itself ceases to be radical when absorbed mainly in preserving its control over a society or an economy. By Eric Hoffer Radicalism Economy Ceases Radical Absorbed

I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind. By Eric Hoffer Prejudices Mind Hang Testicles

To the creative individual all experience is seminal-all events are equidistant from new ideasand insights. By Eric Hoffer Insights Creative Individual Experience Seminalall

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are more fateful than the product. By Eric Hoffer Human Product Unpredictability Inherent Affairs

Scratch an intellectual, and you find a would-be aristocrat who loathes the sight, the sound and the smell of common folk. By Eric Hoffer Scratch Intellectual Sight Folk Find

There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgment. By Eric Hoffer Hesitations Fears Doubts Judgment Telling

All great art is revolutionary because it touches upon the reality of man and questions the reality of the various transitory forms of human society. By Eric Hoffer Reality Society Great Art Revolutionary

The superficiality of many is a result of deep fears. It takes spare time to think things out; it takes free time to mature. People in a hurry may not think well or mature well. The next best is a state of perpetual puerility. By Eric Hoffer Fears Superficiality Result Deep Time

How terribly hard and almost impossible it is to tell the truth. More than anything else, the artist in us prevents us from telling aught as it really happened. We deal with the truth as the cook deals with meat and vegetables. By Eric Hoffer Truth Terribly Hard Impossible Happened

It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny. By Eric Hoffer Destiny Awareness Unfulfilled Desires Nation

It is always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem. By Eric Hoffer Safe Assume People Subtle Sensitive

Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives. By Eric Hoffer Social Motives Improvement Attained Readily

It is easier to hate an enemy with much good in him than one who is all bad. We cannot hate those we despise. By Eric Hoffer Bad Hate Easier Enemy Good

It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs. By Eric Hoffer Noise Loneliness Makes Loudest Dogs

A compilation of what outstanding people said or wrote at the age of 20 would make a collection of asinine pronouncements. By Eric Hoffer Pronouncements Compilation Outstanding People Wrote

It is maintained that a society is free only when dissenting minorities have room to throw their weight around. As a matter of fact, a dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority. 41 By Eric Hoffer Majority Free Dissenting Maintained Society

Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions. By Eric Hoffer Language Questions Invented Answers Gestures

Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. By Eric Hoffer Compassion Soul Harmless Antitoxin Poisonous

Action can give us the feeling of being useful, but only words can give us a sense of weight and purpose. By Eric Hoffer Give Action Purpose Feeling Words

We run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Run Fastest Farthest

It needs some intelligence to be truly selfish. The unintelligent can only be self-righteous. By Eric Hoffer Selfish Intelligence Selfrighteous Unintelligent

Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country. By Eric Hoffer Capitalism Environment Liberating Noncapitalist Communist

The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we have left is our importance. By Eric Hoffer Capacity Creative Compulsion Inverse Proportion

Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay. By Eric Hoffer God Antigod Absolute Turns Power

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity. By Eric Hoffer Bunches Nonconformist Travel Rule Nonconformity

You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone By Eric Hoffer Rarely Find Nonconformist

In modern times, nationalism is the most copious and durable source of mass enthusiasm, and that nationalist fervor must be tapped if the drastic changes projected and initiated by revolutionary enthusiasm are to be consummated. By Eric Hoffer Enthusiasm Times Nationalism Consummated Modern

It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression. By Eric Hoffer Lands Undertakings Expression Failure Pioneer

When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion. By Eric Hoffer Respectable Strong Fashion Cowardice Made

Children are the keys of paradise. By Eric Hoffer Children Paradise Keys

Commitment becomes hysterical when those who have nothing to give advocate generosity, and those who have nothing to give up preach renunciation. By Eric Hoffer Give Commitment Generosity Renunciation Hysterical

People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them. By Eric Hoffer People Bite Hand Feeds Lick

Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power. By Eric Hoffer Power Lack Capacity Achieve Atmosphere

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Lie Loudest

A man's worth is what he is divided by what he thinks he is. By Eric Hoffer Man Worth Divided

Men of thought seldom work well together, whereas between men of action there is usually an easy camaraderie. By Eric Hoffer Men Camaraderie Thought Seldom Work

The chief difference between me and others is that I have plenty of time not only because I am without a multitude of responsibilities and without daily tasks, which demand attention: But also because I am basically without ambition. Neither the present nor the future has claims on me. By Eric Hoffer Tasks Attention Ambition Chief Difference

The decline of handicrafts in modern times is perhaps one of the causes for the rise of frustration By Eric Hoffer Frustration Decline Handicrafts Modern Times

Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events. The new barbarism of the twentieth century is the echo of words bandied about by brilliant speakers and writers in the second half of the nineteenth. By Eric Hoffer Echo Era Words History Action

Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense, and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth By Eric Hoffer Crude Absurdities Trivial Nonsense Sole

We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate. By Eric Hoffer Allies Love Trespassers Rivals Hate

The impulse to think, to philosophize and spin beauty and brilliance out of mind and soul, is somehow the offspring of resistance of an effort to overcome an apparently insurmountable obstacle. Hence cultural creativeness is more likely to flourish in an atmosphere of restriction, of an imposed pattern of thought and behavior, than in one of total freedom. By Eric Hoffer Soul Obstacle Impulse Philosophize Spin

It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents. By Eric Hoffer Creativeness Talents Child Man Source

We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails. By Eric Hoffer Ails Private Troublemakers Public Cures

Imitation is often a shortcut to a solution. We copy when we lack the inclination, the ability or the time to work out an independent solution. People in a hurry will imitate more readily than people at leisure. Hustling thus tends to produce uniformity. And in the deliberate fusing of individuals into a compact group, incessant action will play a considerable role. By Eric Hoffer Solution Imitation Shortcut People Inclination

To find the cause of our ills in something outside ourselves, something specific that can be spotted and eliminated, is a diagnosis that cannot fail to appeal. To say that the cause of our troubles is not in us but in the Jews , and pass immediately to the extermination of the Jews, is a prescription likely to find a wide acceptance. By Eric Hoffer Jews Find Eliminated Appeal Ills

Some people have no original ideas because they do not think well enough of themselves to consider their ideas worth noticing and developing. By Eric Hoffer Developing Ideas People Original Worth

It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature. By Eric Hoffer Sense Nature Part Formidableness Genuine

It seems that when we are oppressed by the knowledge of our worthlessness we do not see ourselves as lower than some and higher than others, but as lower than the lowest of mankind. We hate then the whole world, and we would pour our wrath upon the whole of creation. By Eric Hoffer Lower Mankind Oppressed Knowledge Worthlessness

What merit there is in my thinking is derived from two peculiarities: (1) My inability to be familiar with anything. I simply can't take things for granted. (2) My endless patience. I assume that the only way to find an answer is to hang on long enough and keep groping. By Eric Hoffer Peculiarities Merit Thinking Derived Inability

I always held my flower in a clenched fist. By Eric Hoffer Fist Held Flower Clenched

The contribution of the Western democracies to the awakening of the East has been indirect and certainly unintended. They have kindled an enthusiasm of resentment against the West; and it is this anti-Western fervor which is at present rousing the Orient from its stagnation of centuries.2 By Eric Hoffer Western East Unintended Contribution Democracies

The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity. By Eric Hoffer Antichrist Mediocrity Real Turns Wine

We can never have enough of that which we do not want. By Eric Hoffer

Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous. By Eric Hoffer Unpredictability Monotonous

The Greeks invented logic but were not fooled by it. By Eric Hoffer Greeks Invented Logic Fooled

Death has but one terror, that it has no tomorrow. By Eric Hoffer Death Terror Tomorrow

We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution. By Eric Hoffer Change Revolutions Prepares Ground

We often use strong language not to express a powerful emotion but to evoke it in us. By Eric Hoffer Strong Language Express Powerful Emotion

That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them. By Eric Hoffer Corrodes Souls Persecuted Monstrous Agreement

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. By Eric Hoffer People Free Imitate

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others. By Eric Hoffer Originality Shows Strikingly Wholly Originate

Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing. By Eric Hoffer Creative Grow Revolutionary Individual Juveniles

In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued. By Eric Hoffer Pursued Pursuit Passionate Counts Object

It is to escape the responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings. By Eric Hoffer Undertakings Escape Responsibility Failure Weak

Facts are counterrevolutionary. By Eric Hoffer Facts Counterrevolutionary

Propaganda ... serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda. By Eric Hoffer Propaganda Serves Guilty Justify Convince

Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. By Eric Hoffer Freedom Burden Man Talents Make

We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common. By Eric Hoffer Common Unified Hating Hated

Retribution often means that we eventually do to ourselves what we have done unto others. By Eric Hoffer Retribution Eventually

The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flowby the tilt of the social landscape. By Eric Hoffer Landscape Nature Society Largely Determined

To learn you need a certain degree of confidence, not too much and not too little. If you have too little confidence, you will think you can't learn. If you have too much, you will think you don't have to learn. By Eric Hoffer Learn Confidence Degree

We can be satisfied with moderate confidence in ourselves and with a moderately good opinion of ourselves, but the faith we have in a holy cause has to be extravagant and uncompromising. By Eric Hoffer Uncompromising Satisfied Moderate Confidence Moderately

Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Lack Sensitivity Basically Unawareness

I can never forget that one of the most gifted, best educated nations in the world, of its own free will, surrendered its fate into the hands of a maniac. By Eric Hoffer Gifted World Surrendered Maniac Forget

We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we consider as nothing the rape of the human mind. By Eric Hoffer Human Body Mind Rudiments Reverence

Thought is a process of exaggeration. The refusal to exaggerate is not infrequently an alibi for the disinclination to think or praise. By Eric Hoffer Thought Exaggeration Process Praise Refusal

We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams. By Eric Hoffer Dreams True Feel Grateful Make

The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction. By Eric Hoffer Revolutionary Dissatisfaction Genuine Artist Dissatisfied

Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated? By Eric Hoffer Nation Race Faith Humanity Posterity

In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists. By Eric Hoffer World Change Earth Exists Learners

There is perhaps no surer way of infecting ourselves with virulent hatred toward a person than by doing him a grave injustice. By Eric Hoffer Injustice Surer Infecting Virulent Hatred

There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished ... Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing. By Eric Hoffer Perfect Ant Bee Unfinished Perpetually

Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it. By Eric Hoffer God Invention Image Man Fantastic

There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute dissatisfaction into a creative impulse. By Eric Hoffer Impulse Measuring Natural Endowment Soul

Sensuality reconciles us with the human race. The misanthropy of the old is due in large part to the fading of the magic glow of desire. By Eric Hoffer Sensuality Race Reconciles Human Desire

This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. Our most persistent and spectacular efforts are concerned not with the preservation of what we are but with the building up of an imaginary conception of ourselves in the opinion of others. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter. By Eric Hoffer Theory Insight Efforts Man Desire

The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still within us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche. By Eric Hoffer Nature Sealed Psyche Devil Personifies

There is a radicalism in all getting, and a conservatism in all keeping. Lovemaking is radical, while marriage is conservative. By Eric Hoffer Keeping Radicalism Conservatism Lovemaking Radical

The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own. By Eric Hoffer Capacity Neighbor Depends Large Extent

We are ready to die for an opinion but not for a fact: indeed, it is by our readiness to die that we try to prove the factualness of our opinion. By Eric Hoffer Die Fact Opinion Ready Readiness

Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself. By Eric Hoffer Craving Oneself Mother Reckless Giving

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Faith Holy Considerable Extent Substitute

The self-confidence of even the consistently successful is never absolute. They are never sure that they know all the ingredients which go into the making of their success. The By Eric Hoffer Absolute Selfconfidence Consistently Successful Success

Perhaps our originality manifests itself most strikingly in what we do with that which we did not originate. To discover something wholly new can be a matter of chance, of idle tinkering, or even of the chronic dissatisfaction of the untalented. By Eric Hoffer Originate Originality Manifests Strikingly Chance

The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them. By Eric Hoffer Provide Important Troublesome Problem Confronts

A nation's preoccupation with history is not infrequently an effort to obtain a passport for the future. Often it is a forged passport. By Eric Hoffer Future Passport Nation Preoccupation History

The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unobtainable, envy takes the place of greed. By Eric Hoffer Selfdespisers Intent Increase Diminution Unobtainable

Never have the young taken themselves so seriously, and the calamity is that they are listened to and deferred to by so many adults. By Eric Hoffer Adults Young Calamity Listened Deferred

To change everything, simply change your attitude. By Eric Hoffer Simply Attitude Change

Man is a luxury loving animal. Take away play, fancies, and luxuries, and you will turn man into a dull, sluggish creature, barely energetic enough to obtain a bare subsistence. A society becomes stagnant when its people are too rational or too serious to be tempted by baubles. By Eric Hoffer Animal Man Luxury Loving Fancies

Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character. By Eric Hoffer Resistance World Character Appetites Chief

A passionate obsession with the outside world or the private lives of others is an attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life By Eric Hoffer Life Passionate Obsession World Private

Those who are in love with the present can be cruel and corrupt but not genuinely vicious. They cannot be methodically and consistently ruthless. By Eric Hoffer Vicious Love Present Cruel Corrupt

For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life. By Eric Hoffer Excuse Achievement People Great Leaves

Modern man is weighed down more by the burden of responsibility than by the burden of sin . We think him more a savior who shoulders our responsibilities than him who shoulders our sins. If instead of making decisions we have but to obey and do our duty, we feel it as a sort of salvation. By Eric Hoffer Burden Shoulders Sin Sins Modern

The readiness to praise others indicates a desire for excellence and perhaps an ability to realize it. By Eric Hoffer Readiness Praise Desire Excellence Ability

Humility is not renunciation of pride but the substitution of one pride for another. By Eric Hoffer Humility Pride Renunciation Substitution

We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about. By Eric Hoffer Open Precise Knowledge Things Vehement

Far more critical than what we know or what we don't know is what we don't want to know. By Eric Hoffer Critical

There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size. By Eric Hoffer People Laying Size Element Malice

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it. By Eric Hoffer Weakness Soul Proportionate Number Truths

Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action. By Eric Hoffer Ideas Action Significance Prelude

One word characterizes the most strenuous of the efforts for the advancement of science that I have made perservereingly during fifty-five years; that word is failure By Eric Hoffer Word Years Failure Characterizes Strenuous

Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing. By Eric Hoffer Frustration Greater Lack Dissatisfied Things

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority. By Eric Hoffer Majority Dissenting Minority Feels Free

Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt. By Eric Hoffer Selfrighteousness Selfcontempt Manifestation

Without a sense of proportion there can be neither good taste nor genuine intelligence, nor perhaps moral integrity. By Eric Hoffer Intelligence Integrity Sense Proportion Good

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny. By Eric Hoffer Credulity Greatest Things Calumny Ready

The craving to change the world is perhaps a reflection of the craving to change ourselves. By Eric Hoffer Craving Change World Reflection

People in a hurry cannot think, cannot grow, nor can they decay. They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility. By Eric Hoffer People Grow Decay Hurry Puerility

Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience ... The desire to escape or camouflage their unsatisfactory selves develops in the frustrated a facility for pretending for making a show and also a readiness to identify themselves wholly with an imposing spectacle. By Eric Hoffer Concept Glory Largely Theatrical Audience

Nature is a self-made machine, more perfectly automated than any automated machine. To create something in the image of nature is to create a machine, and it was by learning the inner working of nature that man became a builder of machines. By Eric Hoffer Machine Nature Automated Selfmade Perfectly

Anger is a prelude to courage. By Eric Hoffer Anger Courage Prelude

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance. By Eric Hoffer Intolerance Person Religion Listen Profession

It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt - are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others. By Eric Hoffer Practice Guilt Plausible Movements Greatest

Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat. By Eric Hoffer Easily Sweat Work Smells

To be fully alive is to feel that everything is possible. By Eric Hoffer Fully Alive Feel

In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from. By Eric Hoffer Affairs Human Stimulus Running Ahead

When cowardice becomes a fashion its adherents are without number, and it masquerades as forbearance, reasonableness and whatnot. By Eric Hoffer