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From Quotes by Eric Hoffer
- Naivete in grownups is often charming; but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity.
- In running away from ourselves we either fall on our neighbor's shoulder or fly at his throat.
- Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others…
- In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes- courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, and so on - can be transmuted into…
- Every extreme attitude is a fight from the self.
- Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self…
- There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets our norms and drives us from…
- We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are never of one kind, that…
- Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of…
- Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.
- There is a grandeur in the uniformity of the mass. When a fashion, a dance, a song, a slogan or a joke sweeps like wildfire…
- Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards…
- The wisdom of others remains dull till it is writ over with our own blood. We are essentially apart from the world; it bursts into…
- The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.
- Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man…
- When we are in competition with ourselves, and match our todays against our yesterdays, we derive encouragement from past misfortunes and blemishes. Moreover, the competition…
- A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.
- Give people pride and they'll live on bread and water, bless their exploiters, and even die for them. Self-surrender is a transaction of barter: we…
- To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence for relief from the burdens…
- Starting out from the fact that the frustrated predominate among the early adherents of all mass movements and that they usually join of their own…
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