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There is need for some kind of make-believe in order to face death unflinchingly. To our real, naked selves there is not a thing on earth or in heaven worth dying for.

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
Need
Worth
Real
Face
Needs
Heaven
Thing
Faces
Kind
Death
Unflinchingly
Believe
Order
Selves
Make
Earth
Naked
Self
Dying

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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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Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.
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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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Naivete in grownups is often charming but when coupled with vanity it is indistinguishable from stupidity.
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To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.
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All great art is revolutionary because it touches upon the reality of man and questions the reality of the various transitory forms of human society.
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Creativity is discontent translated into arts.
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One wonders whether a generation that demands instant satisfaction of all its needs and instant solution of the world's problems will produce anything of lasting value. Such a generation, even when equipped with the most modern technology, will be essentially primitive it will stand in awe of nature, and submit to the tutelage of medicine men.
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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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Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
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The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.
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Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous.
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When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.
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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.
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The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life.
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Universities are an example of organizations dominated wholly by intellectuals yet, outside pure science, they have not been an optimal milieu for the unfolding of creative talents. In neither art, music, literature, technology and social theory, nor planning have the Universities figured as originators or as seedbeds of new talents and energies.
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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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