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Naivete in grownups is often charming but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity.

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
Ignorant
Ignorance
Naivete
Often
Indistinguishable
Coupled
Grownups
Charming
Stupidity
Vanity

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Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs.
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Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.
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However much we guard against it, we tend to shape ourselves in the image others have of us.
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I have a premonition that will not leave me: as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the holocaust will be upon us.
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...the majority of people cannot endure the bareness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves.
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The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto.
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Often, the thing we pursue most passionately is but a substitute for the one thing we really want and cannot have.
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People in a hurry cannot think, cannot grow, nor can they decay. They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility.
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The superficiality of many is a result of deep fears. It takes spare time to think things out it takes free time to mature. People in a hurry may not think well or mature well. The next best is a state of perpetual puerility.
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It is always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.
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Up to now, America has not been a good milieu for the rise of a mass movement. What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation.
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EVERY intense desire is perhaps basically a desire to be different from what we are.
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