Both Faith and Terror are instruments for the elimination of individual self-respect. Terror crushes the autonomy of self-respect, where Faith obtains its… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives. — 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
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
The desire to be different from the people we live with is sometimes the result of our rejection- real or imagined- by… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
When we debunk a fanatical faith or prejudice, we do not strike at the root of fanaticism. We merely prevent its leaking… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The superficiality of many is a result of deep fears. It takes spare time to think things out; it takes free time… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements and doubts. We tend to forget… — 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
