Eric Hoffer ( 10 of 253 )
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
Where things have not changed at all, there is the least likelihood of revolution.
Where things have not changed at all, there is the least likelihood of revolution.
Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints read more
Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious read more
The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still within us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche.
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and read more
The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.
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.
It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice read more
It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense which cramps and restrains our nature.
To the creative individual all experience is seminal- all events are equidistant from new ideas and insights...
To the creative individual all experience is seminal- all events are equidistant from new ideas and insights...
The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing west offers to backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. read more
The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing west offers to backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. All the advantages brought by the West are ineffectual substitutes for the sheltering and soothing anonymity of communal existence.
