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 ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. God wishes, said Calvin,… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than because of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident.… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to by fears, beckoned by hopes.… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a… — 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
“Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience... The desire to… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
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
Give people pride and they'll live on bread and water, bless their exploiters, and even die for them. Self-surrender is a transaction… — 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
Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in… — 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
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 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
Unity and self-sacrifice, of themselves, even when fostered by the most noble means, produce a facility for hating. Even when men league… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To believe that if we could have but this or that we would be happy is to suppress the realization that the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing west offers to backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. All the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim all excellence… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Where unity and self-sacrifice are indispensable for the normal functioning of society, everyday life is likely to be either religiofied (common tasks… — 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
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
When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the… — 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
To believe that if only we had this or that we would be happy, or to pursue any excessive desire, diverts us… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The vigor of a mass movement stems from the propensity of its followers for united action and self-sacrifice. When we ascribe the… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when… — 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
