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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.

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
People
Busiest
Ought
Business
Else
Anything
Thing
Time
World

More quotes by Eric Hoffer

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When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.
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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.
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Without a sense of proportion there can be neither good taste nor genuine intelligence, nor perhaps moral integrity.
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The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.
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The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully.
Eric Hoffer
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Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.
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The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.
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Often, the thing we pursue most passionately is but a substitute for the one thing we really want and cannot have.
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In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
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Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.
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The superficiality of many is a result of deep fears. It takes spare time to think things out it takes free time to mature. People in a hurry may not think well or mature well. The next best is a state of perpetual puerility.
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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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Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.
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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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Language was invented to ask questions.
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One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations.
Eric Hoffer
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The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.
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In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.
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It takes a vice to check a vice, and virtue is the by-product of a stalemate between opposite vices.
Eric Hoffer
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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.
Eric Hoffer