Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is read more
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when we see ourselves as actors in a staged (and therefore unreal) performance that death loses its frightfulness and finality and becomes an act of make-believe and a theatrical gesture. It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or lighthearted dramatic performance.
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.
There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.
There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.
It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. read more
It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.
In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped read more
In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. read more
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse.
We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight read more
We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.
There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The read more
There is a fundamental difference between the appeal of a mass movement and the appeal of a practical organization. The practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement, and its appeal is mainly to self-interest. On the other hand, a mass movement, particularly in its active, revivalist phase, appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self. A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom read more
Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom.".
