The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.
ERIC HOFFERNo matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion; it is an evil government.
More Eric Hoffer Quotes
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Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
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The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.
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The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.
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To learn you need a certain degree of confidence, not too much and not too little. If you have too little confidence, you will think you can’t learn. If you have too much, you will think you don’t have to learn.
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It is futile to judge a kind deed by its motives. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
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The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.
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Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
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Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.
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There is a tendency to judge a race, a nation or any distinct group by its leastworthy members.
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Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
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The trouble is not chiefly that our universities are unfit for students but that many present-day students are unfit for universities.
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Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something.
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The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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Learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
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Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.
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Take man’s most fantastic invention- God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds to imitate that image, vie with it, and strive to overcome it.
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Never have the young taken themselves so seriously, and the calamity is that they are listened to and deferred to by so many adults.
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Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
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Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.
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An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.
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A great man’s greatest good luck is to die at the right time.
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A passionate obsession with the outside world or the private lives of others is an attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one’s own life.
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The creative mind is the playful mind. Philosophy is the play and dance of ideas.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
ERIC HOFFER