Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
It takes a vice to check a vice, and virtue is the by-product of a stalemate between opposite vices.
Eric Hoffer
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
Eric Hoffer
Age: 84 †
Born: 1898
Born: July 25
Died: 1983
Died: May 21
Philosopher
Psychologist
Writer
New York City
New York
Vices
Opposite
Opposites
Product
Products
Stalemate
Virtue
Check
Takes
Vice
Checks
More quotes by Eric Hoffer
...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
Eric Hoffer
The chief burden of the frustrated is the consciousness of a blemished, ineffectual self, and their chief desire is to slough off the unwanted self and begin a new life. They try to realize this desire either by finding a new identity or by blurring and camouflaging their individual distinctness and both these ends are reached by imitation.
Eric Hoffer
The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel themselves born to ride us.
Eric Hoffer
Perhaps our originality manifests itself most strikingly in what we do with that which we did not originate. To discover something wholly new can be a matter of chance, of idle tinkering, or even of the chronic dissatisfaction of the untalented.
Eric Hoffer
The genuine creator creates something that has a life of its own, something that can exist and function without him. This is true not only of the writer, artist and scientist, but of creators in other fields.With the noncreative it is the other way around: in whatever they do, they arrange things so that they themselves become indispensable.
Eric Hoffer
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.
Eric Hoffer
Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of man, we usually reach the realm of play.
Eric Hoffer
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.
Eric Hoffer
Creativity is discontent translated into arts.
Eric Hoffer
We cannot hate those who we despise.
Eric Hoffer
Nature has no compassion. Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
Eric Hoffer
When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
Eric Hoffer
The main effect of a real revolution is perhaps that it sweeps away those who do not know how to wish, and brings to the front men with insatiable appetites for action, power and all that the world has to offer.
Eric Hoffer
Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
Eric Hoffer
Love-making is radical, while marriage is conservative.
Eric Hoffer
Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
Eric Hoffer
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.
Eric Hoffer
Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.
Eric Hoffer
The short-lived self, teetering on the edge of extinction, is the only thing that can ever really matter.
Eric Hoffer
We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.
Eric Hoffer
