Eric Hoffer

There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle read more

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. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement.

The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow--by the tilt of read more

The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow--by the tilt of the social landscape.

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are read more

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are more fateful than the product.

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical read more

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.

Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the read more

Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.