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
drama destiny artist
Practically all writers and artists are aware of their destiny and see themselves as actors in a fateful drama. With me, nothing is momentous: obscure youth, glorious old age, fateful coincidences - nothing really matters. I have written a number of good sentences. I have kept free of delusions. I know I am going to die soon.
self-confidence frustration artist
Poverty when coupled with creativeness is usually free of frustration. This is true of the poor artisan skilled in his trade and of the poor writer, artist, and scientist in the full possession of creative powers. Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create; to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out. The decline of handicrafts in modern times is perhaps one of the causes for the rise of frustration and the increased susceptibility of the individual to mass movements.
artist way fields
The genuine creator creates something that has a life of its own, something that can exist and function without him. This is true not only of the writer, artist and scientist, but of creators in other fields.With the noncreative it is the other way around: in whatever they do, they arrange things so that they themselves become indispensable.
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.
corrupts destroy hate injustice power resentment spring weakness wherever wickedness
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from the sense of their inadequacy and impotence. They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is in their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.
america cannot hurry leisure needs nor people perpetual preserved result state
The superficiality of the American is the result of his hustling. It needs leisure to think things out; it needs leisure to mature. People in a hurry cannot think, cannot grow, nor can they decay. They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility.
imitation rudeness strength weak
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength
attitude extreme flight self
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self
bankruptcy hope sort soul
Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy -- the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.
beside character figure figured name quality rest worried
I wasn't worried about typecasting - I thought I'd figure that out down the road. I figured that, with the quality of the show, Will was going to be my epitaph. It was more about ""Is this the one character I want beside my name for the rest of eternity?
easier humanity love neighbor
It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor
finish man mistake neglected paying
Man was nature's mistake -she neglected to finish him - and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.
others ourselves
We can see through others only when we see through ourselves
against believe echo enemies enjoy example explain eyes friendship gets guard happen however image others ourselves reflection shape tend unless
Friendship Never explain / your friends do not need it, and your enemies will not believe it anyway. A real friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be on the way down. A friend is someone you can do nothing with and enjoy it. However much we guard ourselves against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us. 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.