Quote

There is a time when the word eventually has the soothing effect of a promise, and a time when the word evokes in us bitterness and scorn.

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
Effects
Evokes
Word
Soothing
Time
Evoke
Scorn
Bitterness
Eventually
Effect
Promise

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It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.
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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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You cannot gauge the intelligence of an American by talking with him you must work with him. The American polishes and refines his way of doing things-even the most commonplace-the way the French of the 17th century polished their maxims.
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If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences.
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The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. God wishes, said Calvin, that one should put aside all humanity when it is a question of striving for His glory.
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Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
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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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We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
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An empty head is not really empty it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.
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The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. 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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We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.
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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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There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
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Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
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Call not that man wretched, who whatever ills he suffers, has a child to love.
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To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium.
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What merit there is in my thinking is derived from two peculiarities: (1) My inability to be familiar with anything. I simply can't take things for granted. (2) My endless patience. I assume that the only way to find an answer is to hang on long enough and keep groping.
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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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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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It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.
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