Eric Hoffer

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they read more

Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for freedom, it is but freedom to establish equality and uniformity. The passion for equality is partly a passion for anonymity: to be one thread of the many which make up a tunic; one thread not distinguishable from the others. No one can then point us out, measure us against others and expose our inferiority.

Words have ruined more souls than any devil's agency.

Words have ruined more souls than any devil's agency.

Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the read more

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 the submissiveness of sheep.

We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight read more

We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.