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It is to escape the responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings.

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
Escape
Throw
Weak
Failure
Responsibility
Eagerly
Grandiose
Undertakings

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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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Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence.
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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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Facts are counterrevolutionary.
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We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.
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Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.
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Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.
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There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.
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There can be no mass movement without some deliberate misrepresentation of facts.
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Sensuality reconciles us with the human race. The misanthropy of the old is due in large part to the fading of the magic glow of desire.
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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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There is no reason why the profoundest thoughts should not make easy and exciting reading. A profound thought is an exciting thing as exciting as a detective's deductions or hunches. The simpler the words in which a thought is expressed the more stimulating its effect.
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It is not at all simple to understand the simple.
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How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.
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When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else - we are the busiest people in the world.
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The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in which the idea is overcome.
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
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People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country.
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