Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of read more
It is the fate of every great achievement to be pounced upon by pedants and imitators who drain it of life and turn it into an orthodoxy which stifles all stirrings of originality.
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. read more
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse.
The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning read more
The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.
It is easier to love humanity than to love one's neighbor.
It is easier to love humanity than to love one's neighbor.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We read more
Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation.
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom read more
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom.".
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.
Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.
It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.
It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.
