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Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Eric Hoffer Quotes

“Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication in the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves.”

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Book:The Passionate State of Mind
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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
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“The Paleolithic hunters who painted the unsurpassed animal murals on the ceiling of the cave at Altamira had only rudimentary tools. Art is older than production for use, and play older than work. Man was shaped less by what he had to do than by what he did in playful moments. It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities.”

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Author:Eric Hoffer
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“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.”

MenSoulEvilCompassionIgnoranceDutyHonorNobleLoyaltyImpulseGood And EvilAttributesTrafficAlchemyPoisonousProceedingRuthlessnessHope Love
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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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."”

IfsMenSelfYoungIndividualResponsibilityHistoryTalentMovementMassBurdenNaziNazismArdentNazi GermanyFreedom To ChooseIndividual Responsibility
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“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.”

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Author:Eric Hoffer
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“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.”

MenWorldNeedsLooksHeartPurposeProcessImaginationVisionCreativeAchieveAchievementShiningNotionIgnorantMotiveToysCreative ProcessInitiativeBattlefieldsLoftyCorrespondenceJuvenile
Author:Eric Hoffer
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“The birth of the new constitutes a crisis, and its mastery calls for a crude and simple cast of mind -- the mind of a fighter -- in which the virtues of tribal cohesion and fierceness and infantile credulity and malleability are paramount. Thus every new beginning recapitulates in some degree man's first beginning.”

MenMindFirstsSimpleVirtueFashionBirthDegreesCrisisCastsFighterMasteryNew BeginningsNoveltyCrudeParamountCredulityCohesionInfantileFierceness
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.”

MenGivingHumansWholePastAffairPatternsMakersPreciseEquationsPredictableEliminating
Book:Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer
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“Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the passivity and predictability of matter. By this test, absolute power is the manifestation most inimical to human uniqueness. Absolute power wants to turn people into malleable clay.”

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