We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for. Eric Hoffer More Quotes by Eric Hoffer More Quotes From Eric Hoffer How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty. Eric Hoffer dying death world Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action. Eric Hoffer prelude action ideas I could never figure out or probably did not take the trouble to figure out what the great philosophical problems are about. The momentous statements I come across are at best a storm in a teacup. There are quite a number of people who have a vested interest in the stuff, make a noble living out of it, and they conspire with one another to keep it alive. Eric Hoffer philosophical numbers people Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces, but the familiar ceases to be self-evident. Eric Hoffer corny miracle self Faith is primarily a process of identification; the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal. Eric Hoffer identification individual process ...the majority of people cannot endure the bareness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves. Eric Hoffer dedication majority people There are many who have grave scruples about deceiving but think it as nothing to deceive themselves. Eric Hoffer scruples deceiving thinking Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. Eric Hoffer literature faith history When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion. Eric Hoffer fashion strong numbers Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled. Eric Hoffer odor self-esteem literature It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream. Eric Hoffer poison self doubt When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse . Eric Hoffer wrath dream lying Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice. Eric Hoffer despair sacrifice self Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create; to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out. Eric Hoffer self-confidence ability hands Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable. Eric Hoffer society spiritual men Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense, and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth Eric Hoffer sacrifice truth self Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat. Eric Hoffer smell sweat writing A sublime religion inevitably generates a strong feeling of guilt. There is an unavoidable contrast between loftiness of profession and imperfection of practice. And, as one would expect, the feeling of guilt promotes hate and brazenness. Thus it seems that the more sublime the faith the more virulent the hatred it breeds. Eric Hoffer hate strong practice Ours is a golden age of minorities. At no time in the past have dissident minorities felt so much at home and had so much room to throw their weight around. They speak and act as if they were "the people," and what they abominate most is the dissent of the majority. Eric Hoffer home people past We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common. Eric Hoffer unified hate common
