The beginning of thought is in disagreement – not only with others but also with ourselves.
ERIC HOFFERWe run fastest and farthest when we run from ourselves.
More Eric Hoffer Quotes
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Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.
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Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.
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We see through others only when we see through ourselves.
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Jesus was not a Christian, nor was Marx a Marxist.
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It is not actual suffering but the taste of better things which excites people to revolt.
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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
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One of the chief differences between an adult and a juvenile is that the adult knows when he is an ass while the juvenile never does.
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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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Nowhere at present is there such a measureless loathing of their country by educated people as in America.
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Self-contempt, however vague, sharpens our eyes for the imperfections of others. We usually strive to reveal in others the blemishes we hide in ourselves.
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It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men.
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For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life.
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The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.
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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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The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.
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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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We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand.
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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 greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.
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Language was invented to ask questions.
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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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We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
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Those who would sacrifice a generation to realize an ideal are the enemies of mankind.
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To know a person’s religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
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I can never forget that one of the most gifted, best educated nations in the world, of its own free will, surrendered its fate into the hands of a maniac.
ERIC HOFFER