Eric Hoffer

The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it read more

The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients.

Those of little faith are of little hatred.

Those of little faith are of little hatred.

It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

It is not at all simple to understand the simple.

The craving to change the world is perhaps a reflection of the craving to change ourselves.

The craving to change the world is perhaps a reflection of the craving to change ourselves.

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own read more

It is perhaps not entirely so, though it has often been said, that man makes his God in his own image. Rather does he create Him in the image of his cravings and dreams- in the image of what man wants to be. God making could be part of the process by which a society realizes its aspirations: it first embodies them in the conception of a particular God, and then proceeds to imitate that God. The confidence requisite for attempting the unprecedented is most effectively generated by the fiction that in realizing the new we are imitating rather than originating. Our preoccupation with heaven can be part of an effort to find precedents for the unprecedented.