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The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.

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
Derive
Satisfaction
Greater
Less
Desire
Others
Like

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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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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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It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is true of men as of dogs.
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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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Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect.
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The compulsion to take ourselves seriously is in inverse proportion to our creative capacity. When the creative flow dries up, all we have left is our importance.
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There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
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Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of man, we usually reach the realm of play.
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It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others.
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Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.
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Nothing so offends the doctrinaire intellectual as our ability to achieve the momentous in a matter-of-fact way, unblessed by words.
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people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change.
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EVERY intense desire is perhaps basically a desire to be different from what we are.
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The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shaping the world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or against him, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature and potentialities.
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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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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
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There is always a chance that he who sets himself up as his brother's keeper will end up by being his jail-keeper.
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Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.
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