The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we… — 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
When the weak want to give an impression of strength they hint menacingly at their capacity for evil. It is by its… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is… — 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
The Paleolithic hunters who painted the unsurpassed animal murals on the ceiling of the cave at Altamira had only rudimentary tools. Art… — 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
