Maxioms by Eric Hoffer
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems read more
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems almost within reach. A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. De Tocqueville in his researches into the state of society in France before the revolution was struck by the discovery that "in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event." He is forced to conclude that "the French found their position the more intolerable the better it became.
...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself.
The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself.
There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.
There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.
