Eric Hoffer
Eric Hoffer
Eric Hofferwas an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer, was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change was his finest work...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth25 July 1902
CountryUnited States of America
facts opinion ready
We are ready to die for an opinion but not for a fact
real believe self
To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for. It is only when we see ourselves as actors in a staged (and therefore unreal) performance that death loses its frightfulness and finality and becomes an act of make-believe and a theatrical gesture. It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or lighthearted dramatic performance.
creative degrees proportion
A person's creative ability decreases in direct proportion to the degree to which he takes himself seriously.
leader vigor social
The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.
responsibility insecure self
People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident. To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint.
character way resistance
Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.
needs cures protest
We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.
lying angel humanity
Somewhere between the Angels and the French lies the rest of humanity.
eye reflection echoes
It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.
society deceiving deceived
The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.
thinking effort soul
The impulse to think, to philosophize and spin beauty and brilliance out of mind and soul, is somehow the offspring of resistance of an effort to overcome an apparently insurmountable obstacle. Hence cultural creativeness is more likely to flourish in an atmosphere of restriction, of an imposed pattern of thought and behavior, than in one of total freedom.
sick humanity soul
The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.
men together action
Men of thought seldom work well together, whereas between men of action there is usually an easy camaraderie.
simple society
It is not at all simple to understand the simple.