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
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.
numbers soul weakness
The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it.
winning generosity weakness
We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.
work weakness power-corrupts
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
cutting element later laying malice ourselves pleasure readiness
There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people: we are laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.
american-writer cutting element later laying malice people readiness
There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.
achieves momentous sin
To the intellectual, America's unforgivable sin is that it has revolutions without revolutionaries, and achieves the momentous in a matter-of-fact way
attitude extreme flight self
Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self
cannot intelligence talking
You cannot gage the intelligence of an American by talking with him
call obvious question spell
To spell out the obvious is often to call it into question
best capitalism communist liberating true
Capitalism is at its liberating best in a non-capitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country.
act age age-and-aging aware beginning happened happening numbers people untold
Old age equalizes - we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time. When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world.
act age age-and-aging aware beginning happened happening numbers people untold
Old age equalizes -- we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time. When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world.
experience saint sinner stem
Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner