Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.
What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.
The game of History is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of thr majority in read more
The game of History is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of thr majority in the middle.
Whence come these hatreds...? They are an expression of a desperate effort to suppress an awareness of our inadequacy, worthlessness, read more
Whence come these hatreds...? They are an expression of a desperate effort to suppress an awareness of our inadequacy, worthlessness, guilt and other shortcomings of the self. Self-contempt is here transmuted into hatred of others- and there is a most determined and persistent effort to mask this switch.
It is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music.
It is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music.
Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of read more
Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
Whoever originated the cliche that money is the root of all evil knew hardly anything about the nature of evil read more
Whoever originated the cliche that money is the root of all evil knew hardly anything about the nature of evil and very little about human beings.
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.
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something read more
Proselytizing is more a passionate search for something not yet found than a desire to bestow upon the world something we already have. It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others.
When we are in competition with ourselves, and match our todays against our yesterdays, we derive encouragement from past misfortunes read more
When we are in competition with ourselves, and match our todays against our yesterdays, we derive encouragement from past misfortunes and blemishes. Moreover, the competition with ourselves leaves unimpaired our benevolence toward our fellow men.
The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, read more
The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we have left is our importance.
