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Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity.

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
Power
Absolute
Humane
Despot
Still
Sees
Purposes
Despots
Even
Demand
Sheep
Corrupts
People
Liberty
Inherent
Shepherd
Humanity
Demands
Inhumanity
Purpose
Anti
Exercised
Others
Tyranny
Shepherds
Submissiveness
Stills
Absolutes
Benevolent
Taint

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We cannot hate those who we despise.
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A passionate obsession with the outside world or the private lives of others is an attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life
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We clamor for equality chiefly in matters in which we ourselves cannot hope to obtain excellence.
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The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.
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America is still the best country for the common man -- white or black ... if he can't make it here he won't make it anywhere else.
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My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting.
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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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