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The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.

Eric Hoffer

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Eric Hoffer
Age: 84 †
Born: 1898
Born: July 25
Died: 1983
Died: May 21
Philosopher
Psychologist
Writer
New York City
New York
Persons
Doubts
Person
Suspicious
Every
Suspicion
Mind
Believes
Believe
Atheism
Doubt
Ineradicable
Literature
Lurking
Evil
Formidable

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People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a have type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a have not type of self.
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Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs.
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Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.
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Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
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Where unity and self-sacrifice are indispensable for the normal functioning of society, everyday life is likely to be either religiofied (common tasks turned into holy causes) or militarized.
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It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.
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The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious.
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Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world.
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The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.
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It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.
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