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It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.

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
Rationalize
Cowardice
Faith
Needs
Fanatical

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We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.
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The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders.
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Facts are counterrevolutionary.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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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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The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate.
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We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not.
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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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Ours is a golden age of minorities. At no time in the past have dissident minorities felt so much at home and had so much room to throw their weight around. They speak and act as if they were the people, and what they abominate most is the dissent of the majority.
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Every era has a currency that buys souls. In some the currency is pride, in others it is hope, in still others it is a holy cause. There are of course times when hard cash will buy souls, and the remarkable thing is that such times are marked by civility, tolerance, and the smooth working of everyday life.
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It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.
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