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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.

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
Test
Basic
Tests
Perhaps
Freedom
Free
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For men to plunge headlong into an undertaking of vast change, they must be intensely discontented yet not destitute, and they must have the feeling that by the possession of some potent doctrine, infallible leader or some new technique they have access to a source of irresistible power.
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Anger is a prelude to courage.
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The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.
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The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop.
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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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The effectiveness of a doctrine does not come from its meaning but from its certitude. No doctrine however profound and sublime will be effective unless it is presented as the embodiment of the one and only truth
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The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice.
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A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
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For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shaping the world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or against him, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature and potentialities.
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People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
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Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
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Creativity is discontent translated into arts.
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Love-making is radical, while marriage is conservative.
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Radicalism itself ceases to be radical when absorbed mainly in preserving its control over a society or an economy.
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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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Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
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