Quote

The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate.

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
Sense
Imitation
Resentment
Inherent
Imitators
Overcome
Imitator
Impulse
Model
Breeds
Overcoming
Inferiority
Models
Imitate

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It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
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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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We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.
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It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.
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Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.
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If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope.
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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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A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.
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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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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 chief difference between me and others is that I have plenty of time not only because I am without a multitude of responsibilities and without daily tasks, which demand attention: But also because I am basically without ambition. Neither the present nor the future has claims on me.
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Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world.
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The link between ideas and action is rarely direct. There is almost always an intermediate step in which the idea is overcome.
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We cannot hate those who we despise.
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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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Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing.
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Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about. And since we know least about ourselves, we are ready to believe all that is said about us. Hence the mysterious power of both flattery and calumny.
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One of the chief differences between an adult and a juvenile is that the adult knows when he is an ass while the juvenile never does.
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