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The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unobtainable, envy takes the place of greed.
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
Less
Diminution
Others
Bullying
Place
Intent
Self
Greed
Envy
Esteem
Increase
Takes
Unobtainable
More quotes by Eric Hoffer
The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.
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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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Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible.
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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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It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.
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Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice.
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The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully.
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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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The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new . . . is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.
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The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.
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Help your sister's boat across the water, and yours too will reach the other side. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
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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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A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.
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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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We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.
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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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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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Ours is a golden age of minorities. At no time in the past have dissident minorities felt so much at home and had so much room to throw their weight around. They speak and act as if they were the people, and what they abominate most is the dissent of the majority.
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In a modern society people can live without hope only when kept dazed and out of breath by incessant hustling.
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No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion it is an evil government.
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