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We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.

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
Things
Vehement
Concerning
Precise
Diversity
Least
Open
Literature
Knowledge

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Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
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The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.
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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.
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Propaganda ... serves more to justify ourselves than to convince others and the more reason we have to feel guilty, the more fervent our propaganda.
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It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
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Actual creativeness is a matter of moments. One has to piece together the minute grains to make a lump. And it is so easy to miss the momentary flashes, it is like sluicing in placer mining. He who lets the flakes float by has nothing to show for his trouble.
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I have a premonition that will not leave me: as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.
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The revulsion from an unwanted self, and the impulse to forget it, mask it, slough it off and lose it, produce both a readiness to sacrifice the self and a willingness to dissolve it by losing one's individual distinctness in a compact collective whole.
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The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves.
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Unlimited opportunities can be as potent a cause of frustration as a paucity or lack of opportunities.
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Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing.
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What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.
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First something is a great idea, then it becomes a cause, then it becomes a business and finally it becomes a racket.
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Language was invented to ask questions.
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We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not.
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
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A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
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