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A ruling intelligentsia, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa, treats the masses as raw material to be experimented on, processed, and wasted at will.

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
Materials
Ruling
Mass
Masses
Europe
Asia
Whether
Patriotic
Africa
Experimented
Tyranny
Intelligentsia
Treats
Processed
Material
Wasted

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All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.
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When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.
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What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored.
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The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.
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To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition.
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To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him.
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Mass movements do not usually rise until the prevailing order has been discredited.
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A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.
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To the creative individual all experience is seminal-all events are equidistant from new ideasand insights.
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The remarkable thing is that we really love our neighbor as ourselves: we do unto others as we do unto ourselves. We hate others when we hate ourselves. We are tolerant toward others when we tolerate ourselves. We forgive others when we forgive ourselves. We are prone to sacrifice others when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves.
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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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There is need for some kind of make-believe in order to face death unflinchingly. To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for.
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There is no alienation that a little power will not cure.
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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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The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.
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Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
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It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.
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