The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The Americans are poor haters in international affairs because of their innate feeling of superiority over all foreigners. An American's hatred for… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The genuine creator creates something that has a life of its own, something that can exist and function without him. This is… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we… — 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
Our present addiction to pollsters and forecasters is a symptom of our chronic uncertainty about the future... We watch our experts read… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
You cannot gauge the intelligence of an American by talking with him; you must work with him. The American polishes and refines… — 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
Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character. — 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
What merit there is in my thinking is derived from two peculiarities: (1) My inability to be familiar with anything. I simply… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
A plant needs roots in order to grow. With man it is the other way around: only when he grows does he… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future. — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The burning conviction that we have a holy duty toward others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Nothing so offends the doctrinaire intellectual as our ability to achieve the momentous in a matter-of-fact way, unblessed by words. — 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
Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
Friendship Never explain -- your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe it anyway. A real friend never… — Eric Hoffer Copy Share Image
The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long… — 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
