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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
Tests
Perhaps
Freedom
Free
Less
Test
Basic

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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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The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel themselves born to ride us.
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A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.
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To find the cause of our ills in something outside ourselves, something specific that can be spotted and eliminated, is a diagnosis that cannot fail to appeal. To say that the cause of our troubles is not in us but in the Jews , and pass immediately to the extermination of the Jews, is a prescription likely to find a wide acceptance.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness.
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To be aware how fruitful the playful mood can be is to be immune to the propaganda of the alienated, which extols resentment as a fuel of achievement.
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Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
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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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The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.
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In a trader-dominated society, the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but it given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe's craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe's wrath and scorn.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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There is no alienation that a little power will not cure.
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It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only God whose one and only people they were to be.
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Self-righteousness is a manifestation of self-contempt.
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We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true they ruin our dreams.
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The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.
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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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Thought is a process of exaggeration. The refusal to exaggerate is not infrequently an alibi for the disinclination to think or praise.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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