Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible.


Eric Hoffer

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Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. -Eric Hoffer.
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Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.
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To the man who himself strives earnestly, God also lends a helping hand.
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Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
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Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
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Man is the creature with a mystery in his heart that is bigger than himself.
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Man is the only creature that consumes without producing
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Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.
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All things must; man is the only creature that wills.
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All things must; man is the only creature that wills.
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Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.
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Man naturally yearns for novelty.
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It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.
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It is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself.
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Nothing seems impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
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Man... knows only when he is satisfied and when he suffers, and only his sufferings and his satisfac...
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Before marriage a man yearns for a woman. Afterward the y is silent.
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Before marriage a man yearns for a woman. Afterward the "y" is silent.
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Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.
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Man is the only creature who has a nasty mind.
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The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.
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The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject but man only.
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Man is the only creature whose emotions are entangled with his memory.
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God loves to help him who strives to help himself.
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God loves to help him who strives to help himself.
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He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage.
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He who is conceived in a cage, yearns for the cage.
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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
We feel free when we escape -- even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.
ERIC HOFFER