Eric Hoffer Quotes

471 quotes in 4535 categories

• We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams. Come True
• Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of man, we usually reach the realm… Ascent
• Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains. Faith
• Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible. Acquiring
• There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure… Cutting
• Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where… Airplane
• We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own… Business
• We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to… Arrive
• The misery of a child is interesting to a mother, the misery of a young man is interesting to a young woman, the misery of… Child
• It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are… Attuned
• Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. Absolute
• The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not. Atheism
• The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when… Anger
• ...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything. Ability
• It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations -- past and present -- are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual's… Anxieties
• Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket. Becomes
• Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who… Alone
• There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have… Achieve
• people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor… Change
• What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds. Faces

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