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

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A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed.
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We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.
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The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully.
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people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change.
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Children are the keys of paradise.
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Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet.
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To the creative individual all experience is seminal-all events are equidistant from new ideasand insights.
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Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.
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To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium.
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Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.
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Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society .
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It is thus with most of us we are what other people say we are. We know ourselves chiefly by hearsay.
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It is easier to hate an enemy with much good in him than one who is all bad. We cannot hate those we despise.
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Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
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Successful action tends to become an end in itself.
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To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
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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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A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness.
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