It is compassion rather than the principle of justice which can guard us against being unjust to our fellow men. Eric Hoffer More Quotes by Eric Hoffer More Quotes From Eric Hoffer ...That genius is a rare exception (:) It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history; this is all I know for sure. Eric Hoffer genius age dark It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living. Eric Hoffer literature life death Fair play with others is primarily the practice of not blaming them for anything that is wrong with us. We tend to rub our guilty conscience against others the way we wipe dirty fingers on a rag. This is as evil a misuse of others as the practice of exploitation. Eric Hoffer practice play dirty The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we have left is our importance. Eric Hoffer creativity creative self Man was nature's mistake she neglected to finish him and she has never ceased paying for her mistake. Eric Hoffer nature mistake men In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes- courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, and so on - can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion, even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. Eric Hoffer loyalty ignorance men There is a grandeur in the uniformity of the mass. When a fashion, a dance, a song, a slogan or a joke sweeps like wildfire from one end of the continent to the other, and a hundred million people roar with laughter, sway their bodies in unison, hum one song or break forth in anger and denunciation, there is the overpowering feeling that in this country we have come nearer the brotherhood of man than ever before. Eric Hoffer fashion song country The well-adjusted make poor prophets. Eric Hoffer prophet wells poor Nature attains perfection, but man never does. Eric Hoffer nature perfection men The truth seems to be that propaganda on its own cannot force its way into unwilling minds; neither can it inculcate something wholly new; nor can it keep people persuaded once they have ceased to believe. It penetrates into minds already open, and rather than instill opinion it articulates and justifies opinions already present in the minds of its recipients. Eric Hoffer mind believe people It is a paradox that in our time of drastic rapid change, when the future is in our midst devouring the present before our eyes, we have never been less certain about what is ahead of us. Eric Hoffer future change time Help your sister's boat across the water, and yours too will reach the other side. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. Eric Hoffer helping-others kindness water To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him. Eric Hoffer hate hatred enemy A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness. Eric Hoffer weakness strong mistake It is a strange thing that both the injurer and the injured, the sinner and he who is sinned against, should find in the mass movement an escape from a blemished life. Eric Hoffer strange movement should It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors. Eric Hoffer hated oppressed shapes To think out a problem is not unlike drawing a caricature. You have to exaggerate the salient point and leave out that which is not typical. "To illustrate a principle ," says Bagehot , "you must exaggerate much and you must omit much." As to the quantity of absolute truth in a thought : it seems to me the more comprehensive and unobjectionable a thought becomes, the more clumsy and unexciting it gets. I like half-truths of a certain kind they are interesting and they stimulate. Eric Hoffer drawing interesting thinking To overestimate the originality of one's thoughts is perhaps a less serious defect than being unaware of their newness. There is a more pronounced lack of sensitivity in underestimating (ourselves and others) than in overestimating. Eric Hoffer originality underestimate serious A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. Eric Hoffer snooping mind men The ignorant are a reservoir of daring. It almost seems that those who have yet to discover the known are particularly equipped for dealing with the unknown. The unlearned have often rushed in where the learned feared to tread, and it is the credulous who are tempted to attempt the impossible. They know not whither they are going, and give chance a chance. Eric Hoffer ignorant atheism giving
