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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.

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
Belief
Much
Startling
Make
Unbelief
Believer
Necessary
Realize
Realizing
Possible

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Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out.
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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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There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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The genuine creator creates something that has a life of its own, something that can exist and function without him. This is true not only of the writer, artist and scientist, but of creators in other fields.With the noncreative it is the other way around: in whatever they do, they arrange things so that they themselves become indispensable.
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If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences.
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Help your sister's boat across the water, and yours too will reach the other side. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
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Successful action tends to become an end in itself.
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Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
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When you automate an industry you modernize it when you automate a life you primitivize it.
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To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats- we know it not.
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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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A good sentence is a key . It unlocks the mind of the reader.
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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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Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors they can be smelled.
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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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There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive.
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Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
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In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.
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When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
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