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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.

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
Human
Achievement
Humans
Stay
Men
Environment
Life
Goal
Encroachment
Nature
Achievements
Become
Chief
Stills
Chiefs
Still
Defend

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Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.
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When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
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The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders.
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It is the acquisition of skills in particular, irrespective of their utility, that is potent in making life meaningful. Since man has no inborn skills, the survival of the species has depended on the ability to acquire and perfect skills. Hence the mastery of skills is a uniquely human activity and yields deep satisfaction.
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Commitment becomes hysterical when those who have nothing to give advocate generosity, and those who have nothing to give up preach renunciation.
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The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.
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To a man utterly without a sense of belonging, mere life is all that matters. It is the only reality in an eternity of nothingness, and he clings to it with shameless despair.
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Creativity is discontent translated into arts.
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There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets our norms and drives us from one five-year plan to another. The autonomous individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.
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Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous.
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It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations -- past and present -- are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual's hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained unchanged through the millenia.
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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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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Faith is primarily a process of identification the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal.
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A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.
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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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Communists are frustrated capitalists.
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Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
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It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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