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The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.

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
Human
Capacity
Compensate
Humans
Members
Capacities
Must
Missing
Cultivating
Way
Talent
Constraints
Realizing
Talents
Creative
Gifted
Cannot
Miss
Best
Species

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EVERY intense desire is perhaps basically a desire to be different from what we are.
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To a man utterly without a sense of belonging, mere life is all that matters. It is the only reality in an eternity of nothingness, and he clings to it with shameless despair.
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The desire to belong is partly a desire to lose oneself.
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Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul.
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Creativity is discontent translated into arts.
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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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A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.
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Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect.
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The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto.
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It is to escape the responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings.
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It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.
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A man's soul is pierced as it were with holes, and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.
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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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Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action.
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Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
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