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Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Biography

Philosopher

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“There is perhaps some hope to be derived from the fact that in most instances where an attempt to realize an ideal society gave birth to the ugliness and violence of a prolonged active mass movement the experiment was made on a vast scale and with a heterogeneous population. Such was the case in the rise of Christianity and Islam, and in the French, Russian and Nazi revolutions. The promising communal settlements in the small state of Israel and the successful programs of socialization in the small Scandinavian states indicate perhaps that when the attempt to realize an ideal society is undertaken by a small nation with a more or less homogeneous population it can proceed and succeed in an atmosphere which is neither hectic nor coercive.”

DiversityThe True Believer
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“Nature of the Desire for Change: There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on. “If anything ail a man,” says Thoreau, “so that he does not perform his functions, if he have a pain in his bowels even … he forthwith sets about reforming—the world.” It is understandable that those who fail should incline to blame the world for their failure. The remarkable thing is that the successful, too, however much they pride themselves on their foresight, fortitude, thrift and other “sterling qualities,” are at bottom convinced that their success is the result of a fortuitous combination of circumstances. The self-confidence of even the consistently successful is never absolute. They are never sure that they know all the ingredients which go into the making of their success. The outside world seems to them a precariously balanced mechanism, and so long as it ticks in their favor they are afraid to tinker with it. Thus the resistance to change and the ardent desire for it spring from the same conviction, and the one can be as vehement as the other.”

ChangeSuccess And FailureDesire For Change
Book:The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
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“A movement’s call for action evokes an eager response in the frustrated, for they see in action a cure for all that ails them. It brings self-forgetting and gives them a sense of purpose and worth. Indeed it seems that frustration stems chiefly from an inability to act, and that the most poignantly frustrated are those whose talents and temperament equip them ideally for a life of action but are condemned by circumstances to rust away in idleness.”

FrustrationSocial ChangeSelf ActualizationInner DriveMovement Building
Book:The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
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“A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.”

DoeMadeSelfWholeIndividualExistenceSocietyMovementPromiseOffersAnxietyMassAbuseDifficultyAbsolutesFollowingDoctrineCuresMiserableCorporateRisingMeaninglessFrustratedRefugeAbsorbingAbsolute TruthTrue Believer
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The untalented are more at ease in a society that gives them valid alibis for not achieving than in one where opportunities are abundant. In an affluent society, the alienated who clamor for power are largely untalented people who cannot make use of the unprecedented opportunities for self-realization, and cannot escape the confrontation with an ineffectual self.”

PeopleGivingSelfUseOpportunityAchieveSelf RealizationRealizationEaseConfrontationUnprecedentedAffluentClamorUntalentedAlibis
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“In man's life, the absence of an essential component usually leads to the adoption of a substitute. The substitute is usually embraced with vehemence and extremism, for we have to convince ourselves that what we took as second choice is the best there ever was. Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for an unattainable self-respect.”

MenSelfActionDesireChoicesLostGrowthPrideEssentialsBlindAbsenceSelf RespectConvinceSubstitutesAdoptionComponentsAccumulationExtremismHustleInsatiableBlind FaithUnattainableFerventLost FaithVehemenceSecond Choice
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The monstrous evils of the twentieth century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women, and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind.”

MenChildrenSufferingHateThreeEvilMillionsMankindCenturyHundredDecadesGentlePortionsTwentieth CenturyMen WomenMonstrousDoveStalin And Hitler
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life.”

StillsSoulHardWisdomCoursesCausesWisePrideHolyEverydayToleranceErasRemarkableCashCurrencySmoothEveryday LifeCivility
Book:Before the Sabbath
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“In a trader-dominated society, the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but it given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe's craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe's wrath and scorn.”

HandsActionGivenFieldsDrawsManagementAffairWrathFrustratingCravingScornTradersScribes
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“When watching men of power in action it must be always kept in mind that, whether they know it or not, their main purpose is the elimination or neutralization of the independent individual- the independent voter, consumer, worker, owner, thinker- and that every device they employ aims at turning men into a manipulable animated instrument which is Aristotle's definition of a slave.”

KnowsMenMindActionPurposeIndividualAimIndependentInstrumentsSlaveWorkersDefinitionsConsumersOwnersDevicesVotersThinkerAnimatedEliminationIndependent Voters
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.”

WayGivingLooksSelfHandsPracticeDoubtOur LivesSelf EsteemHumilityDutyHolyGainsDearConvictionPassingPassingsEsteemBurningVanityNo DoubtMeaninglessSelflessHolding OnDrowningSelf CenteredBoundlessExchangingDear Life
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The chief burden of the frustrated is the consciousness of a blemished, ineffectual self, and their chief desire is to slough off the unwanted self and begin a new life. They try to realize this desire either by finding a new identity or by blurring and camouflaging their individual distinctness; and both these ends are reached by imitation.”

TryingEndsSelfDesireIndividualRealizingConsciousnessIdentityFindingsBurdenChiefsFrustratedImitationNew LifeUnwantedSlough
Book:THE TRUE BELIEVER
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“Nature attains perfection, but man never does. There is a perfect ant, a perfect bee, but man is perpetually unfinished. He is both an unfinished animal and an unfinished man. It is this incurable unfinishedness which sets man apart from other living things. For, in the attempt to finish himself, man becomes a creator. Moreover, the incurable unfinishedness keeps man perpetually immature, perpetually capable of learning and growing.”

MenDoePerfectAnimalGrowingCapablePerfectionCreatorBeesLiving ThingsAntsImmatureUnfinishedLearning And Growing
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The most effective way to silence our guilty conscience is to convince ourselves and others that those we have sinned against are indeed depraved creatures, deserving every punishment, even extermination. We cannot pity those we have wronged, nor can we be indifferent toward them. We must hate and persecute them or else leave the door open to self-contempt.”

WaySelfHateSilenceDoorsCreaturesConsciencePunishmentPityGuiltyConvinceContemptIndifferentDeservingDepravedWrongedExterminationGuilty Conscience
Author:Eric Hoffer
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