Eric Hoffer

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves.

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves.

It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a read more

It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny.

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical read more

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.

There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being read more

There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being his jail-keeper.

...when we renounce the self and become part of a compact whole, we not only renounce personal advantage but are read more

...when we renounce the self and become part of a compact whole, we not only renounce personal advantage but are also rid of personal responsibility. There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgement. When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom- freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. Herein undoubtedly lies part of the attractiveness of a mass movement.