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
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Man is a luxury loving animal. Take away play, fancies, and luxuries, and you will turn man into a dull, sluggish creature,… — 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
The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our… — 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
