The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom — freedom to hate,… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence for relief… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the passivity and… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident.… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is doubtful if the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power - power to oppress others. The… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears,… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. We join a mass movement to… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Give people pride and they'll live on bread and water, bless their exploiters, and even die for them. Self-surrender is a transaction… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do; to most it means not to do what they… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
One is not quite certain that creativeness in the arts, literature, and science functions best in an environment of absolute freedom. Chances… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new;… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
“In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others. The impression somehow prevails that the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
A nation without dregs and malcontents, is orderly, decent, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter — Eric Hoffer Copy Share
