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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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It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature.
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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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Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.
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Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet.
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Humility is not renunciation of pride but the substitution of one pride for another.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Love-making is radical, while marriage is conservative.
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It is easier to hate an enemy with much good in him than one who is all bad. We cannot hate those we despise.
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This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter
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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 change everything, simply change your attitude.
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The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
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To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition.
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Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
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It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.
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We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.
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Judgment consists not in seeing through deceptions and evil intentions, but in being able to awaken the decency dormant in every person.
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The short-lived self, teetering on the edge of extinction, is the only thing that can ever really matter.
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Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
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It is not at all simple to understand the simple.
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