The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.
Eric Hoffer
Related The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger ... ERIC HOFFER I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back. PIET HEIN Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back. PIET HEIN Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you und... LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you und... LOUISA MAY ALCOTT The diamond does not need to prove its worth. It is in fact the person who must teach him/herself to... C. JOYBELL C. If the pursuit of perfection is a way to prove our worth, in the end the pursuit will only prove our... CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH We really want to prove this is worth doing. CARL ASCENZO When you get drafted this high, you want to prove that you're not a bust, ... You want to prove that... BRAYLON EDWARDS Poor is the man who does not know his own intrinsic worth and tends to measure everything by relativ... SIDNEY MADWED Poor is the man who does not know his own intrinsic worth and tends to measure everything by relativ... SYDNEY MADWED They have the toughest job. They have their market cap, and now they have to prove they are worth it... PETER ALEXANDER The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism... OSCAR WILDE The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journali... OSCAR WILDE Cars are usually the second largest purchase for most people, right after their house. It makes sens... DAVE KINNEY Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not only what it ... ROLAND BARTHES Distance sometimes lets you know who is worth keeping, and who is worth letting go. LANA DEL REY There are many who find the burdens, the anxiety, and the isolation of an individual existence unbea... ERIC HOFFER There's a kinship among men who have sat by a dying fire and measured the worth of their life by it. WILLIAM GOLDING The most audacious thing I could possibly state in this day and age is that life is worth living. It... JEFF BUCKLEY There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for. TOM ROBBINS Wrong? So you are saying, I'm wrong okay then... It's not possible every time to be right, one ... DEYTH BANGER Tragedy is thus a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself an... ARISTOTLE The worth of a man can only be measured by the value of his word. WILLIAM STOBART MITCH Feeling the weight of every success in life is important for harboring a stronger sense of self-wort... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA The year you were born marks only your entry into the world. Other years where you prove your worth,... JAROD KINTZ The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their ... ERIC HOFFER Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything, for 'Tis the only thing in this world ... MARGARET MITCHELL Everyday is a new beginning.Everyday gives opportunity to prove yourself better & better, to do some... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA The worth of the state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it JOHN STUART MILL All have their worth and each contributes to the worth of the others. J.R.R. TOLKIEN The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing OSCAR WILDE The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. OSCAR WILDE No, I do not need an outrageous quest to prove my worth. I deserve happiness -- happiness on my own ... ANNA BAYES The moment you feel you have to prove your worth to someone is the moment to absolutely and utterly ... ALYSIA HARRIS One picture is worth 1,000 denials. RONALD REAGAN Our concern for the loss of our friends is not always from a sense of their worth, but rather of our... FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD By means of our myths and legends we maintain a sense of what we are worth and who we are. Without t... MICHAEL MOORCOCK We're trying to track our kids to prove its worth. HELEN DUGAN Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of man is an ideal worth fighting for and worth dyin... ROBERT MAYNARD Human rights rest on human dignity. The dignity of man is an ideal worth fighting for and worth dyi... ROBERT MAYNARD " You are only on planet to prove of your being.you are meant for it.” DR. SHAILESH THAKER It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already en... G. H. HARDY It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already en... G.H. HARDY The fear of God is the only cure for the fear of people. CRAIG GROESCHEL My belief, for what it is worth, is that city dwellers cannot understand the world. Insulated from r... JAMES BUCHAN You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of a... GUSTAVE FLAUBERT They best can judge a poet's worth,
Who oft themselves have known
The pangs of a poetic birth
... WILLIAM COWPER The person that loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping. IZAAK WALTON Surely there can't be so many countries worth dying for.' Anything worth living for,' said Nate... JOSEPH HELLER Their insatiable lust for power is only equaled by their incurable impotence in exercising it. WINSTON CHURCHILL A mother is simply a tool used by whomever to wash their child of any new information that might cau... THOMAS WALLACE SCHERZER A lot of writers dwell on their relationships with their mothers, but only a few are worth reading. KATHRYN HARRISON Existence was given us for action. Our worth is determined by the good deed we do, rather than by th... EDGAR F. MAGNIN Existence was given us for action. Our worth is determined by the good deed we do, rather than by th... GEORGE MACDONALD There isn't one solution for every piece of content. There are some movies worth renting, and others... BOB GREENE Everything worth is known to a true heart and everyone understands its worth only if they don’t mi... ANUJ SOMANY The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be... BARBARA EHRENREICH Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever dev... RONALD REAGAN The NFL determines your worth as a player, but only God knows your true worth. Players work long and... JAKE BYRNE Some of the money going to the rookies can now be spent on people who have proved their worth. After... BOB LILLY Empathy is the new measurement of everything. It doesn't matter what religion you have, what God you... C. JOYBELL C. Life is short, and that's why, I don't test people; because we all fail tests sometimes, but that is... C. JOYBELL C. The vast majority of businesses really have no idea how much their business is actually worth until ... ALEX KINDLER The land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, beca... ROBERT REDFORD Democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised... RONALD REAGAN I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God. JOHN SHELBY SPONG I listen and take it for what it's worth. And a lot of it is worth nothing to me. Some of it, the cr... ALEX BRINK For me, being in front of a camera is a matter of practicing and refining your art. I think, if you&... DANNY PINO It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are alread... G. H. HARDY The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither ac... ERIC HOFFER The fact that the movement was carried on by women who, for the most part, had no money of their own... FLORENCE ELLINWOOD ALLEN It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows by like a song. But the man worth while is the one... ELLA WHEELER WILCOX An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. FRIEDRICH ENGELS An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. RALPH WALDO EMERSON Most adults don't know what we do here - let alone kids. It really opens their eyes, and it teaches ... CHERYL POWERS Majority rule is a precious, sacred thing worth dying for. But -- like other precious, sacred things... P. J. O'ROURKE The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness. JESSE OWENS The care of your body is one of the most important investments you can make. What good are expensive... AVINA CELESTE A letdown is worth a few songs. A heartbreak is worth a few albums. TAYLOR SWIFT You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth. PAT RILEY You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth. JEAN PAUL If the unexamined life is not worth living, the unexamined past is not worth possessing; it bears fr... BRENDAN GILL True friends esteem you of greater worth than you feel deserving. False friends ... RICHELLE E. GOODRICH Books worth reading once are worth reading twice; and what is most important of all, the masterpiece... JOHN MORLEY True value of a person is measured by his self worth. DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA To stand on the brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli... ASK AND IT IS GIVEN Essayists, like poets, are born and not made, and for one worth remembering, the world is confronted... WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Personal success or personal satisfaction are not worth another thought if one does achieve them, or... PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN Wealthy individuals are known for spending their money wisely. This means living below their means b... JOHN RAMPTON Nately was instantly up in arms again. "There is nothing so absurd about risking your life for your ... JOSEPH HELLER There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars. JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH There's a certain part of the contented majority who love anybody who is worth a billion dollars. JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH I just love the Corps. I love the brotherhood, the camaraderie. I thank anyone in uniform who serves... ROB RIGGLE An ordinary person is one whose life is driven by the mere motivation of making money and sees it as... ANUJ SOMANY Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, ... PIERRE-JOSEPH PROUDHON This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people. JOHN WYCLIFFE It is remarkable that this people, though unarmed, dares attack an armed foe; the infantry defy the ... GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS Man is born a predestined idealist, for he is born to act. To act is to affirm the worth of an end, ... OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
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 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 We feel free when we escape -- even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire. ERIC HOFFER