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We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.
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
Potent
Prone
Contagious
Assume
Assuming
Good
Generalize
Generalization
More quotes by Eric Hoffer
A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding.
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There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being his jail-keeper.
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With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves.
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Excesses are essentially gestures. It is easy to be extremely cruel, magnanimous, humble or self-sacrificing when we see ourselves as actors in a performance.
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Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
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Those who are in love with the present can be cruel and corrupt but not genuinely vicious. They cannot be methodically and consistently ruthless.
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The Greeks invented logic but were not fooled by it.
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In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
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Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity.
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A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.
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Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.
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To have a grievance is to have a purpose in life. It not infrequently happens that those who hunger for hope give their allegiance to him who offers them a grievance.
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Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.
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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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However much we guard against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us.
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When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.
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The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life.
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The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.
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