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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
Diversity
Least
Open
Literature
Knowledge
Things
Vehement
Concerning
Precise

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We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.
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Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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A nation without dregs and malcontents is orderly, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come.
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To change everything, simply change your attitude.
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A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.
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Action is basically a reaction against loss of balance - a flailing of the arms to to regain one's balance. To dispose a soul to action, we must upset its equilibrium.
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To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him.
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Man's chief goal in life is still to become and stay human, and defend his achievements against the encroachment of nature.
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One wonders whether a generation that demands instant satisfaction of all its needs and instant solution of the world's problems will produce anything of lasting value. Such a generation, even when equipped with the most modern technology, will be essentially primitive it will stand in awe of nature, and submit to the tutelage of medicine men.
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Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.
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People whose lives are barren and insecure seem to show a greater willingness to obey than people who are self-sufficient and self-confident. To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint.
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To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium.
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Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country.
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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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Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action.
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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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When grubbing for necessities man is still an animal. He becomes uniquely human when he reaches out for the superfluous and extravagant.
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All great art is revolutionary because it touches upon the reality of man and questions the reality of the various transitory forms of human society.
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It is the awareness of unfulfilled desires which gives a nation the feeling that it has a mission and a destiny.
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