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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
Refuse
Society
Ends
Superfluities
Necessities
Refuses
Lacking
Likely
Strive

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The difficult and risky task of meeting and mastering the new . . . is not undertaken by the vanguard of society but by its rear. It is the misfits, failures, fugitives, outcasts and their like who are among the first to grapple with the new.
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Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide the evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. The hardest thing to hide is something that is not there.
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However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.
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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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The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.
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Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society .
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Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors they can be smelled.
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To be aware how fruitful the playful mood can be is to be immune to the propaganda of the alienated, which extols resentment as a fuel of achievement.
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To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats- we know it not.
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In every passionate pursuit, the pursuit counts more than the object pursued.
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Communists are frustrated capitalists.
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It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
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The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves.
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Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.
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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 act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.
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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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We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true they ruin our dreams.
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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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