Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical read more
A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.
The hatred and cruelty which have their source in selfishness are ineffectual things compared with the venom and ruthlessness born read more
The hatred and cruelty which have their source in selfishness are ineffectual things compared with the venom and ruthlessness born of selflessness.
The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
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.
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
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.
The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go read more
The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.
Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the read more
Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.
It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.
It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.
Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era read more
Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events. The new barbarism of the twentieth century is the echo of words bandied about by brilliant speakers and writers in the second half of the nineteenth.
