Eric Hoffer Quotes Page 5

“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.”

“We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.”

“We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams.”

“We feel free when we escape, even if it be from the frying pan into the fire.”

“We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are never of one kind, that we never love without reservations and never hate with all our being cannot prevent us from seeing others as wholly black or white.”

“We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to them and often forget the ends.”

“We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.”

“We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.”

“We never say so much as when we do not quite know what we want to say. We need few words when we have something to say, but all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice when we have nothing to say and want desperately to say it.”

“We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.”

“What greater reassurance can the weak have than that they are like anyone else?”

“What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.”

“When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion.”

“When people are bored, it is primarily with their own selves that they are bored.”

“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.”

“When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.”

“When you automate an industry you modernize it; when you automate a life you primitivize it.”

“Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces, but the familiar ceases to be self-evident.”

“Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.”

“Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.”

“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”

“You can never get enough of what you don't need to make you happy.”

“Youth itself is a talent - a perishable talent.”

“The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.”

“There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day; we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.”

“Propaganda serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others; and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda.”

“Scratch an intellectual, and you find a would-be aristocrat who loathes the sight, the sound and the smell of common folk.”

“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.”