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
wisdom differences adults
One of the chief differences between an adult and a juvenile is that the adult knows when he is an ass while the juvenile never does.
agreement soul prejudice
That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.
people holiness causes
However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.
devil cunning subconscious
The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still within us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche.
life men priorities
The necessary has never been man's top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness. Unlike other forms of life, man's greatest exertions are made in the pursuit not of necessities but of superfluities.
reassurance weak greater
What greater reassurance can the weak have than that they are like anyone else?
devil movement libertarian
Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.
sacrifice self movement
It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature.
life book responsibility
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
wisdom blood teeth
The wisdom of others remains dull till it is writ over with our own blood. We are essentially apart from the world; it bursts into our consciousness only when it sinks its teeth and nails into us.
greek youth god-love
When the Greeks said, Whom the gods love die young, they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful.
people noses purpose
The purpose of philosophers is to show people what is right under their noses.
children leader followers
All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.
work tasks firsts
The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new . . . is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.