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

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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.
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Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors they can be smelled.
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There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his own house.
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It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt - are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others.
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Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet.
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The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.
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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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The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.
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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.
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