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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.

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
Seeing
Future
Often
Rearrange
Past
Prompts
Preoccupation
Prevents
Adversity
Present

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The true believer, no matter how rowdy and violent his acts, is basically an obedient and submissive person.
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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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The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.
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We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.
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We never say so much as when we do not quite know what we want to say. We need few words when we have something to say, but all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice when we have nothing to say and want desperately to say it.
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People unfit for freedom - who cannot do much with it - are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a have type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a have not type of self.
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EVERY intense desire is perhaps basically a desire to be different from what we are.
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Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.
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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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Unlimited opportunities can be as potent a cause of frustration as a paucity or lack of opportunities.
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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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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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The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.
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In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.
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It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.
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That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.
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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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When cowardice becomes a fashion its adherents are without number, and it masquerades as forbearance, reasonableness and whatnot.
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Nowhere at present is there such a measureless loathing of their country by educated people as in America.
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There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
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