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A society that refuses to strive for superfluities is likely to end up lacking in necessities.

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
Ends
Superfluities
Necessities
Refuses
Lacking
Likely
Strive
Refuse
Society

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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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A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.
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First something is a great idea, then it becomes a cause, then it becomes a business and finally it becomes a racket.
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We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.
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Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
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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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Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.
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What merit there is in my thinking is derived from two peculiarities: (1) My inability to be familiar with anything. I simply can't take things for granted. (2) My endless patience. I assume that the only way to find an answer is to hang on long enough and keep groping.
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The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.
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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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This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter
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You cannot gauge the intelligence of an American by talking with him you must work with him. The American polishes and refines his way of doing things-even the most commonplace-the way the French of the 17th century polished their maxims.
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The conservatism of a religion - it's orthodoxy - is the inert coagulum of a once highly reactive sap.
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...the majority of people cannot endure the bareness and futility of their lives unless they have some ardent dedication, or some passionate pursuit in which they can lose themselves.
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The Greeks invented logic but were not fooled by it.
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It is to escape the responsibility for failure that the weak so eagerly throw themselves into grandiose undertakings.
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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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The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel themselves born to ride us.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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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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