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
letting-go ideas society
Conservatism is sometimes a symptom of sterility. Those who have nothing in them that can grow and develop must cling to what they have in beliefs, ideas and possessions. The sterile radical, too, is basically conservative. He is afraid to let go of the ideas and beliefs he picked up in his youth lest his life be seen as empty and wasted.
spiritual men society
Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.
writing obscurity pieces
How rare it is to come across a piece of writing that is unambiguous, unqualified, and also unblurred by understatements or subtleties, and yet at the same time urbane and tolerant. It is a vice of the scientific method when applied to human affairs that it fosters hemming and hawing and a scrupulousness that easily degenerates into obscurity and meaninglessness.
military moving fighting
We know that words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude; and men are more ready to fight and die for a word than for anything else. Words shape thought, stir feeling, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure. The "men-of-words"- priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.
truth sacrifice self
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
flower fists
I always held my flower in a clenched fist.
accomplished ask-me sentences
If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences.
failure expression land
It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.
fashion strong numbers
When cowardice is made respectable, its followers are without number both from among the weak and the strong; it easily becomes a fashion.
self-esteem literature odor
Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors; they can be smelled.
trying facts opinion
We are ready to die for an opinion but not for a fact: indeed, it is by our readiness to die that we try to prove the factualness of our opinion.
mean writing gold
Good writing , like gold , combines lustrous lucidity with high density. What this means is good writing is packed with hints.
artist vegetables meat
How terribly hard and almost impossible it is to tell the truth. More than anything else, the artist in us prevents us from telling aught as it really happened. We deal with the truth as the cook deals with meat and vegetables.
men animal society
When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.