Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
It is not at all simple to understand the simple.
It is not at all simple to understand the simple.
Despair and misery are static factors. The dynamism of an uprising flows from hope and pride. Not actual suffering but read more
Despair and misery are static factors. The dynamism of an uprising flows from hope and pride. Not actual suffering but the hope of better things incites people to revolt.
Rudeness luxuriates in the absence of self-respect.
Rudeness luxuriates in the absence of self-respect.
A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it read more
A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves- and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.
Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
Add a few drops of malice to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
Add a few drops of malice to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither read more
The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning- from minding other people's business- and is bound to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
