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.
ERIC HOFFERNaivete in grownups is often charming; but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity.
More Eric Hoffer Quotes
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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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Jesus was not a Christian, nor was Marx a Marxist.
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Language was invented to ask questions.
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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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Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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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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I have a premonition that will not leave me: as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.
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Nature is a self-made machine, more perfectly automated than any automated machine. To create something in the image of nature is to create a machine, and it was by learning the inner working of nature that man became a builder of machines.
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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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When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.
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What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people’s faces as unfinished as their minds.
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The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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The misery of a child is interesting to a mother, the misery of a young man is interesting to a young woman, the misery of an old man is interesting to nobody.
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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.
ERIC HOFFER