We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil. — 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
Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The true believer, no matter how rowdy and violent his acts, is basically an obedient and submissive person. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide… — 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
The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The uncompromising attitude is more indicative of an inner uncertainty than a deep conviction. The implacable stand is directed more against the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march,… — 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… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Starting out from the fact that the frustrated predominate among the early adherents of all mass movements and that they usually join… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
All mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The fanatical Communist refuses to believe any unfavorable report or evidence about Russia, nor will he be disillusioned by seeing with his… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others. The impression somehow prevails… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“The enemy—the indispensible devil of every mass movement—is omnipresent. He plots both outside and inside the ranks of the faithful. It is… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole -- the church, party, nation -- and not to his fellow true… — 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
