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Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer

Book by Eric Hoffer · 8 quotes · Men, Self, Humans

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Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer Quotes

“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
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“All mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ.”

WorldFactsRealityMovementHolyTruth IsMassUltimateBasesAbsolutesStriveProofScreensBelieverDoctrineConclusionObservationFaithfulAbsolute TruthTrue BelieverCertitude
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“The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.”

WorldIdeasPlaySeemsQualityOpinionRolesMovementMassGesturesArrogantMinorsDefianceDisregard
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“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 judgement. When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom- freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. Herein undoubtedly lies part of the attractiveness of a mass movement”

MenLyingHateIndividualLosesDoubtMovementMassMurderShameIndependenceExtremesTyrannyCrueltyJudgementTortureTyrantsBetrayVagueBullyRemorseDecencyHesitationStirringAttractivenessRuthlessnessIndividual Independence
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“Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom."”

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“Starting out from the fact that the frustrated predominate among the early adherents of all mass movements and that they usually join of their own accord, it is assumed: 1) that frustration of itself, without any proselytizing prompting from the outside, can generate most of the peculiar characteristics of the true believer; 2) that an effective technique of conversion consists basically in the inculcation and fixation of proclivities and responses indigenous to the frustrated mind.”

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