It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.
ERIC HOFFERTake 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.
More Eric Hoffer Quotes
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Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
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No 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.
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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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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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Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
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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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To be fully alive is to feel that everything is possible.
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It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one’s neighbor.
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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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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.
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You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
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The ratio between supervisory and producing personnel is always highest where the intellectuals are in power. In a Communist country it takes half the population to supervise the other half.
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It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others.
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We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
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Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence.
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What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people’s faces as unfinished as their minds.
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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.
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To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
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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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Children are the keys of paradise.
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The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.
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Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.
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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
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A great man’s greatest good luck is to die at the right time.
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We see through others only when we see through ourselves.
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Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.
ERIC HOFFER