To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could… — 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
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
It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only… — 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
It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own. Whether it… — 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
Take man's most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants… — 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 ignorant are a reservoir of daring. It almost seems that those who have yet to discover the known are particularly equipped… — 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
