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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
Society
Ends
Superfluities
Necessities
Refuses
Lacking
Likely
Strive
Refuse

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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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In human affairs every solution serves only to sharpen the problem, to show us more clearly what we are up against. There are no final solutions.
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Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out.
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A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.
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The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.
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The fanatic is not really a stickler to principle. He embraces a cause not primarily because of its justness or holiness but because of his desperate need for something to hold onto.
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God alone is satisfied with what He is and can proclaim: I am what I am. Unlike God, man strives with all his might to be what he is not. He incessantly proclaims: I am what I am not.
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The greatest weariness comes from work not done.
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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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Man was nature's mistake she neglected to finish him and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.
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To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.
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...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are free to do than in what we are free not to do.
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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 history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.
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Add a few drops of venom to a half truth and you have an absolute truth.
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Self-esteem and self-contempt have specific odors they can be smelled.
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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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A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed.
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It needs fanatical faith to rationalize our cowardice.
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