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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
Ought
Business
Else
Anything
Thing
Time
World
People
Busiest

More quotes by Eric Hoffer

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First something is a great idea, then it becomes a cause, then it becomes a business and finally it becomes a racket.
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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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What the intellectual craves above all else is to be taken seriously, to be treated as a decisive force in shaping history. He is far more at home in a society that weighs his every word and keeps close watch on his attitudes then in a society that cares not what he says or does. He would rather be persecuted than ignored.
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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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The conservatism of a religion - it's orthodoxy - is the inert coagulum of a once highly reactive sap.
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We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.
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If a society is to preserve stability and a degree of continuity, it must learn how to keep its adolescents from imposing their tastes, values, and fantasies on everyday life.
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The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature that is still within us, sealed in the subconscious cellars of the psyche.
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In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
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Action is basically a reaction against loss of balance - a flailing of the arms to to regain one's balance. To dispose a soul to action, we must upset its equilibrium.
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The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.
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The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.
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The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves.
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To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him.
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Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.
Eric Hoffer
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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.
Eric Hoffer
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience... The desire to escape or camouflage their unsatisfactory selves develops in the frustrated a facility for pretending -- for making a show -- and also a readiness to identify themselves wholly with an imposing spectacle.
Eric Hoffer
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Communists are frustrated capitalists.
Eric Hoffer
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Woe to him inside a non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.
Eric Hoffer
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For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future but an excuse can last for life.
Eric Hoffer