“Our passionate preoccupation with the sun, the stars and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The revulsion from an unwanted self, and the impulse to forget it, mask it, slough it off and lose it, produce both… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others. The creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop… — 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
There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute dissatisfaction into… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes- courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, and so on - can… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The impulse to think, to philosophize and spin beauty and brilliance out of mind and soul, is somehow the offspring of resistance… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
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 Image
The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
“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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
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 Image
