The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor.
Eric Hoffer
Related We should not blame people by the mistakes of others. DANIEL MELGAçO I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES The Christian is free from all other human beings. He does not have to live over against others, con... JAY E. ADAMS ...Aren’t they all acting on a selfish motive—to be noticed, liked, admired?” “—by ot... AYN RAND You cannot force change in others, you can only inspire change in others by being your awesomely sel... MICHAEL HETHERINGTON Stop comparing yourself with others. If they are good at something, you too are good at something el... STEPHEN RICHARDS People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the ... SAUL ALINSKY Success by the laws of competition signifies a victory over others by obtaining the direction and pr... JOHN RUSKIN Without a moral framework, there is nothing left but immediate self-indulgence by some and the path ... THOMAS SOWELL The best leaders are readers of people. They have the intuitive ability to understand others by disc... JOHN C. MAXWELL By cultivating rich social networks, by cultivating weak ties, not just close ties but the weak ties... JASON SILVA The key is to focus on the details of individual lives. Kids imitate one another, their parents, and... PETER J. RICHERSON She's the sort of woman who lives for others - you can tell the others by their hunted expression. C.S. LEWIS The most insignificant people are the most apt to sneer at others. They are safe from reprisals. And... WILLIAM HAZLITT The sensitiveness claimed by neurotic is matched by their egotism: they cannot abide the flaunting b... MARCEL PROUST The ''sensitiveness'' claimed by neurotic is matched by their egotism: they cannot abide the flaunti... MARCEL PROUST When a person finds themselves predisposed to complaining about how little they are regarded by othe... JOHNSON When a person finds themselves predisposed to complaining about how little they are regarded by othe... SAMUEL JOHNSON The essence of warrior traits are demonstrated by : integrity with self, and honesty with others SOKE BEHZAD AHMADI Those who believe they have pleased God by the quality of their devotion and moral goodness naturall... TIMOTHY J. KELLER Not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but ultimately they are indistinguishable. M. SCOTT PECK Wherever people feel safe (...) they will be indifferent. SUSAN SONTAG Those who live as though God sets the rules are not going by their own rules. That is the self-sacri... CRISS JAMI No one can become rich by the efforts of only their toil, but only by the discovery of some method o... JOHN RUSKIN Mature minds never get occupied by others until and unless they are influenced by their own misconce... MUHAMMAD RAFIQ KHAN KAKAR Some make money by taking from others, some by selling stuff to others, some by the way of their soc... ZAIN UL ABIDEEN Success is not measured by who you are , only by the perception of what others think you are BRIAN A. LESLIE A tin of milk is not the same as a milk tin. You are not always the same as others perceive you. The... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH They want people who are going to serve by lifting others up, not tearing them down. MARC MOLINARO Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their
friendship; and when they hear us p... CHARLES CALEB COLTON Our very best friends have a tincture of jealousy even in their friendship; and when they hear us pr... CHARLES CALEB COLTON I can not think for others or without others,nor can others think for me. Even if the people's think... PAULO FREIRE Of course, egoists are considered winners by themselves only, but they are mere losers in the minds ... CHANDRABABU V.S. People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by t... BLAISE PASCAL Those who are protected by the Guru are saved, while others die, to be reincarnated, they continue c... GURU GOBIND SINGH Civil lawsuits do two important things: they compensate people who are injured by the bad acts of ot... ADAM COHEN No one could endure lasting adversity if it continued to have the same force as when it first hit us... SENECA It is in no way, shape or form your cosmic duty or responsibility to take away the pain of other peo... MATEO SOL Some of the most unkind,judgmental people I've ever known go to church every Sunday and read the Bib... JUDITH MCNAUGHT Opportunities are never lost; they are taken by others. SOURCE UNKNOWN People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by t... BLAISE PASCAL If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by ... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by ... FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued f... THOMAS JEFFERSON Those who are protected by the Guru are saved; all others are cheated and plundered by deceitful wor... SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB There are two categories of people in this world. The first get their feeling of self worth by belit... NICK KINSELLA They are always the problem. There is no evil in this world you cannot blame on them. The world will... JAMES ROZOFF Most people do not really want others to have freedom of speech, they just want others to be given t... MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor... FRANZ LISZT People do not retire. They are retired by others. DUKE ELLINGTON The rule of law should be upheld by all political parties. They should neither advise others to brea... JAMES CALLAGHAN I would say they were probably influenced by others, but not necessarily directed specifically by ot... ANTONIO TAGUBA When people cheat in any arena, they diminish themselves-they threaten their own self-esteem and the... CHERYL HUGHES They the hazers or eversores were rightly called Overturners, since they had themselves been first o... SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO It seems to me that those who claim to be 'true' and 'bible believing' Christians and yet spend all ... CHRISTINA ENGELA If I had spoken to him out loud, he would have understood the tragic fate of those who came back, le... ELIE WIESEL Self respect by definition is a confidence and pride in feeling that you are behaving in an honorabl... MIYA YAMANOUCHI You are special individual. Never envy others. You never know what they go through. ... LAILAH GIFTY AKITA Some people are meant to heal, move on, and forget. Others are meant to heal by burning that candle ... CRISTABEL MICHAELS The mind sets of the rich & poor;While the rich think of how to benefit others by serving,the poor o... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) when you disobey the rule, you sell your freedom. You cripple your real you. The daily direction of ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Like all writers, he measured the achievements of others by what they had accomplished, asking of th... JORGE LUIS BORGES Like all writers, he measured the achievements of others by what they had accomplished, asking of ... JORGE LUIS BORGES That's the trick of free market economic theory: it doesn't just ask you to only be selfish ... NAOMI KLEIN Mr. Milosevic and others who have been indicted by this tribunal, the only place where they should f... CHRISTIAN CHARTIER We can create a Heaven on Earth by being empathetic towards the suffering of others as well as by un... LATIKA TEOTIA People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found by other... BLAISE PASCAL I'm sorry for these people, but there are a lot of them here. Their families should take care of the... HENRIETTA BROWN Don’t judge or compare yourself with others. You are not same as others. You are who you are and y... ABDUS SALAM Children who feel unloved and unprotected are like a half-filled cup. They become incapable of ‘fi... BEVERLY ENGEL Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them ALBERT SCHWEITZER Powerful people are not affected or infected by their environment. They refuse to be victims of othe... DANNY SILK Strong people have a strong sense of self-worth and self-awareness; they don’t need the approval o... ROY T. BENNETT We have within ourselves as a species, to find the beauty in everything. And once we master it, we w... TOM ALTHOUSE We are moved by self-interest, even when we seek to do good to others. BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA Success-minded people know that first and foremost, in all we do, we must think of others first. By ... JOHN PATRICK HICKEY One way to eliminate self negating thoughts and behavior is by gaining more understanding through re... IYANLA VANZANT Many modern people have gone so far in their dependence on others for their feeling of reality that ... ROLLO MAY Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely e... MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. A person who has to convince themselves they are worth by lying about how others have treated them, ... FRANCESCO NICHOLAS CECE People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found out by o... BLAISE PASCAL We may convince others by our arguments; but we can only persuade them by their own JOSEPH JOUBERT Most survivors are cope-aholics, people who cope with whatever is thrown at them without reliance on... RENEE FREDRICKSON Politicians -- power itself -- are abject because they merely embody the profound contempt people ha... JEAN BAUDRILLARD Politicians / power itself / are abject because they merely embody the profound contempt people have... JEAN BAUDRILLARD Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek t... NATHANIEL BRANDEN People will always reveal how they feel about themselves by how they treat and talk about others. TROY GATHERS World will be destroyed not by asteroids but by the people who are devoid of all human feelings towa... ANUJ SOMANY Although believers by nature, are far from God, and children of wrath, even as others, yet it is ama... GEORGE WHITEFIELD It is a fact of life that certain people are corrosive to others’ self esteem simply as a function... DAVID FOSTER WALLACE Only after we can learn to forgive ourselves can we accept others as they are
because we don't feel ... STEPHEN COVEY By aggrandizing one's own abilities and achievements, the grandiose person remains out of touch with... STEVEN FRANSSEN It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin ... CORNELIUS TACITUS It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin ... TACITUS Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about you... BRENNAN MANNING Falsehood often lurks upon the tongue of him, who, by self-praise, seeks to enhance his value in the... ARNOLD BENNETT Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even t... NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI Modesty is the lowest of the virtues, and is a real confession of the deficiency it indicates. He wh... WILLIAM HAZLITT I judge the relative strength of a man by how envious they become, of others, who enjoy a measure of... BARRY MUNRO
More Eric Hoffer
Children are the keys of paradise. ERIC HOFFER It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. ERIC HOFFER Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. ERIC HOFFER Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and ... ERIC HOFFER The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future. ERIC HOFFER It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to le... ERIC HOFFER Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us... ERIC HOFFER Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength. ERIC HOFFER The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves. ERIC HOFFER We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire. ERIC HOFFER We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about. ERIC HOFFER The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flowby t... ERIC HOFFER The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When t... ERIC HOFFER How much easier is self-sacrifice than self-realization! ERIC HOFFER There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people; we are laying up for... ERIC HOFFER It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is as true of men as of dogs. ERIC HOFFER A soul that is reluctant to share does not as a rule have much of its own. Miserliness is here a sym... ERIC HOFFER There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other. ERIC HOFFER Marriage has for women many equivalents of joining a mass movement. It offers them a new purpose in ... ERIC HOFFER The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger ... ERIC HOFFER It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer f... ERIC HOFFER The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself. ERIC HOFFER Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want to... ERIC HOFFER The greatest weariness comes from work not done. ERIC HOFFER Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. -Eric Hoffer. ERIC HOFFER One of the marks of a truly vigorous society is the ability to dispense with passion as a midwife of... ERIC HOFFER The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in w... ERIC HOFFER Death has but one terror, that it has no tomorrow. ERIC HOFFER The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their ... ERIC HOFFER The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as ... ERIC HOFFER Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in l... ERIC HOFFER Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense, and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for se... ERIC HOFFER Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves. ERIC HOFFER Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions ... ERIC HOFFER The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither ac... ERIC HOFFER When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common... ERIC HOFFER Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. The resentment of the weak does not spring... ERIC HOFFER Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart. For we can... ERIC HOFFER Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would i... ERIC HOFFER To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain e... ERIC HOFFER Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect. ERIC HOFFER It is the stretched soul that makes music, and souls are stretched by the pull of opposites --opposi... ERIC HOFFER There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmar... ERIC HOFFER The passion to get ahead is sometimes born of the fear lest we be left behind. ERIC HOFFER It sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents. ERIC HOFFER It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. ERIC HOFFER It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. ERIC HOFFER Nature is a self-made machine, more perfectly automated than any automated machine. To create someth... ERIC HOFFER The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist... ERIC HOFFER It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations -- past and presen... ERIC HOFFER Naivete in grownups is often charming; but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stu... ERIC HOFFER An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anyth... ERIC HOFFER Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled. ERIC HOFFER No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments. We need p... ERIC HOFFER The remarkable thing is that it is the crowded life that is most easily remembered. A life full of t... ERIC HOFFER In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find them... ERIC HOFFER It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence. ERIC HOFFER Animals often strike us as passionate machines. ERIC HOFFER The superficiality of the American is the result of his hustling. It needs leisure to think things o... ERIC HOFFER The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim a... ERIC HOFFER We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams. ERIC HOFFER Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy -- the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and... ERIC HOFFER Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about o... ERIC HOFFER The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine h... ERIC HOFFER A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. ERIC HOFFER There is perhaps no more reliable indicator of a society's ripeness for a mass movement than the pre... ERIC HOFFER The self-styled intellectual who is impotent with pen and ink hungers to write history with sword an... ERIC HOFFER We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every... ERIC HOFFER A successful social technique consists perhaps in finding unobjectionable means for individual self-... ERIC HOFFER To spell out the obvious is often to call it in question. ERIC HOFFER We never say so much as when we do not quite know what we want to say. We need few words when we hav... ERIC HOFFER To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are. ERIC HOFFER The well adjusted make poor prophets. A pleasant existence blinds us to the possibilities of drastic... ERIC HOFFER Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible. ERIC HOFFER The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil ... ERIC HOFFER Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice. ERIC HOFFER Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but... ERIC HOFFER We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves. ERIC HOFFER Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power. ERIC HOFFER They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspi... ERIC HOFFER There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his ow... ERIC HOFFER Facts are counterrevolutionary. ERIC HOFFER It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opini... ERIC HOFFER A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time. ERIC HOFFER Man was nature's mistake --she neglected to finish him -- and she has never ceased paying for her mi... ERIC HOFFER The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in th... ERIC HOFFER It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak. ERIC HOFFER You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. ERIC HOFFER Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, ... ERIC HOFFER The birth of the new constitutes a crisis, and its mastery calls for a crude and simple cast of mind... ERIC HOFFER To the old, the new is usually bad news. ERIC HOFFER The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything. ERIC HOFFER There is sublime thieving in all giving. Someone gives us all he has and we are his. ERIC HOFFER Our present addiction to pollsters and forecasters is a symptom of our chronic uncertainty about the... ERIC HOFFER To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as h... ERIC HOFFER The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to ... ERIC HOFFER There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail. ERIC HOFFER The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altoge... ERIC HOFFER Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. ERIC HOFFER Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses ... ERIC HOFFER We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are ... ERIC HOFFER Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces, but the familiar ceases to be self-eviden... ERIC HOFFER The chemistry of dissatisfaction is as the chemistry of some marvelously potent tar. In it are the b... ERIC HOFFER The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do un... ERIC HOFFER Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. ERIC HOFFER Man is eminently a storyteller. His search for a purpose, a cause, an ideal, a mission and the like ... ERIC HOFFER Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing... ERIC HOFFER Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves. ERIC HOFFER What greater reassurance can the weak have than that they are like anyone else? ERIC HOFFER Intolerance is the Do Not Touch sign on something that cannot bear touching. We do not mind having o... ERIC HOFFER It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is ... ERIC HOFFER It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer fr... ERIC HOFFER A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominate... ERIC HOFFER There is a grandeur in the uniformity of the mass. When a fashion, a dance, a song, a slogan or a jo... ERIC HOFFER It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and ... ERIC HOFFER Thought is a process of exaggeration. The refusal to exaggerate is not infrequently an alibi for the... ERIC HOFFER The pre-human creature from which man evolved was unlike any other living thing in its malicious vic... ERIC HOFFER Perhaps our originality manifests itself most strikingly in what we do with that which we did not or... ERIC HOFFER It almost seems that nobody can hate America as much as native Americans. America needs new immigran... ERIC HOFFER When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. ERIC HOFFER More significant than the fact that poets write abstrusely, painters paint abstractly, and composers... ERIC HOFFER The necessary has never been man's top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the ... ERIC HOFFER When you automate an industry you modernize it; when you automate a life you primitivize it. ERIC HOFFER The beginning of thought is in disagreement -- not only with others but also with ourselves. ERIC HOFFER The greatest weariness comes from work not done. ERIC HOFFER It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission an... ERIC HOFFER The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop. ERIC HOFFER Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of a... ERIC HOFFER We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and con... ERIC HOFFER A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor. ERIC HOFFER There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being hi... ERIC HOFFER All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action... ERIC HOFFER We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails. ERIC HOFFER Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers a... ERIC HOFFER There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet. ERIC HOFFER Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the t... ERIC HOFFER Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The ... ERIC HOFFER Thus we find that people who fail in everyday affairs show a tendency to reach out for the impossibl... ERIC HOFFER The main effect of a real revolution is perhaps that it sweeps away those who do not know how to wis... ERIC HOFFER We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: chan... ERIC HOFFER When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and th... ERIC HOFFER We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the ... ERIC HOFFER Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions m... ERIC HOFFER We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meani... ERIC HOFFER The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a ... ERIC HOFFER Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And w... ERIC HOFFER To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of... ERIC HOFFER Many of the insights of the saint stem from their experience as sinners. ERIC HOFFER The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. ERIC HOFFER It is easier to love humanity than to love one's neighbor. ERIC HOFFER How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem e... ERIC HOFFER Retribution often means that we eventually do to ourselves what we have done unto others. ERIC HOFFER Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that ... ERIC HOFFER We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire cr... ERIC HOFFER Men weary as much of not doing the things they want to do as of doing the things they do not want ... ERIC HOFFER Man staggers through life yapped at by his reason, pulled and shoved by his appetites, whispered to ... ERIC HOFFER With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the ... ERIC HOFFER A man by himself is in bad company. ERIC HOFFER Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the p... ERIC HOFFER Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. ERIC HOFFER It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable. ERIC HOFFER We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us. ERIC HOFFER We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many i... ERIC HOFFER A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prom... ERIC HOFFER The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares no... ERIC HOFFER The nature of society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow-by th... ERIC HOFFER It is a sign of a creeping inner death when we no longer can praise the living. ERIC HOFFER There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience, a... ERIC HOFFER Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem. ERIC HOFFER Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possib... ERIC HOFFER Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling o... ERIC HOFFER Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat. ERIC HOFFER People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them. ERIC HOFFER Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of m... ERIC HOFFER It is not actual suffering but the taste of better things which excites people to revolt. ERIC HOFFER In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equippe... ERIC HOFFER The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitaria... ERIC HOFFER Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength ERIC HOFFER The great crimes of the twentieth century were committed not by money-grubbing capitalists but by d... ERIC HOFFER The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity. ERIC HOFFER It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living. ERIC HOFFER One of the marks of a truly vigorous society is the ability to dispense with passion as a midwife of... ERIC HOFFER There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were,... ERIC HOFFER Our great weariness comes from work not done. ERIC HOFFER It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opi... ERIC HOFFER There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it ERIC HOFFER It is the pull of opposite poles that stretches souls. And only stretched souls make music. ERIC HOFFER To spell out the obvious is often to call it in question. ERIC HOFFER The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the ... ERIC HOFFER The game of History is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of thr majority in th... ERIC HOFFER Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that ... ERIC HOFFER You dehumanize a man as much by returning him to nature - by making him one with rocks, vegetation, ... ERIC HOFFER Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And w... ERIC HOFFER Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragemen... ERIC HOFFER The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in w... ERIC HOFFER To grow old is to grow common. Old age equalizes - we are aware that what is happening to us has hap... ERIC HOFFER It is easier to love humanity as a whole that to love one's neighbor. ERIC HOFFER However much we talk of the inexorable laws governing the life of individuals and of societies, we r... ERIC HOFFER One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ... ERIC HOFFER Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. ERIC HOFFER