Maxioms by Eric Hoffer
The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves read more
The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.
It seems that when we are oppressed by the knowledge of our worthlessness we do not see ourselves as lower read more
It seems that when we are oppressed by the knowledge of our worthlessness we do not see ourselves as lower than some and higher than others, but as lower than the lowest of mankind. We hate then the whole world, and we would pour our wrath upon the whole of creation.
Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. read more
Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. He is both an unfinished animal and an unfinished man. It is this incurable unfinishedness which sets man apart from other living things. For, in the attempt to finish himself, man becomes a creator. Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing.
That hatred springs more from self-contempt than from a legitimate grievance is seen in the intimate connection between hatred and read more
That hatred springs more from self-contempt than from a legitimate grievance is seen in the intimate connection between hatred and a guilty conscience.
Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do read more
Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to do.