Maxioms by Eric Hoffer
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We read more
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites read more
All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium.
...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.
It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.
The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither read more
The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning- from minding other people's business- and is bound to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.
