The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. Eric Hoffer More Quotes by Eric Hoffer More Quotes From Eric Hoffer There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgment. Eric Hoffer ruthlessnessdoubtmen For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shaping the world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or against him, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature and potentialities. Eric Hoffer ageoppositesworld It is apparently vital that we should be in the dark about ourselves not to be clear about our intentions, fears, and hopes. There is a stubborn effort in us to set up a compact screen between consciousness and the self. Eric Hoffer effortselfdark The craving to change the world is perhaps a reflection of the craving to change ourselves. Eric Hoffer changing-the-worldreflectionworld In products of the human mind, simplicity marks the end of a process of refining, while complexity marks a primitive stage. Michelangelo 's definition of art as the purgation of superfluities suggests that the creative effort consists largely in the elimination of that which complicates and confuses a pattern. Eric Hoffer simplicityeffortart How terribly hard and almost impossible it is to tell the truth. More than anything else, the artist in us prevents us from telling aught as it really happened. We deal with the truth as the cook deals with meat and vegetables. Eric Hoffer meatvegetablesartist Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard. Eric Hoffer savagesrememberchildren Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing. Eric Hoffer growing-upsuccesschildren I have a premonition that will not leave me: as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us. Eric Hoffer holocaustisraelshould It is a juvenile notion that a society needs a lofty purpose and a shining vision to achieve much. Both in the market place and on the battlefield men who set their hearts on toys have often displayed unequal initiative and drive. And one must be ignorant of the creative process to look for a close correspondence between motive and achievement in the world of thought and imagination. Eric Hoffer imaginationheartmen There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call extreme self-seeking is actually self-renunciation. The miser, health addict, glory chaser and their like are not far behind the selfless in the exercise of self-sacrifice. Eric Hoffer selfishpassionexercise Imitation is often a shortcut to a solution. We copy when we lack the inclination, the ability or the time to work out an independent solution. People in a hurry will imitate more readily than people at leisure. Hustling thus tends to produce uniformity. And in the deliberate fusing of individuals into a compact group, incessant action will play a considerable role. Eric Hoffer independentplaypeople It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence. Eric Hoffer degreesliteraturewould-be A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of Eric Hoffer economyintellectualorder America is still the best country for the common man -- white or black ... if he can't make it here he won't make it anywhere else. Eric Hoffer whitemencountry The conservatism of a religion - it's orthodoxy - is the inert coagulum of a once highly reactive sap. Eric Hoffer sapconservatismorthodoxy To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium. Eric Hoffer diversitysouljustice The necessary has never been man's top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness. Unlike other forms of life, man's greatest exertions are made in the pursuit not of necessities but of superfluities. Eric Hoffer prioritiesmenlife All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium. Eric Hoffer individualitymeanenemy There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size. Eric Hoffer sizecuttingpeople
