Quote

To some, freedom means the opportunity to do what they want to do to most it means not to do what they do not want to do. It is perhaps true that those who can grow will feel free under any condition.

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
Feel
Respect
Feels
Grows
Mean
Freedom
Prohibition
Free
Condition
Opportunity
Conscience
Means
Conditions
True
Perhaps
Reason
Grow

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Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
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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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The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unobtainable, envy takes the place of greed.
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Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs.
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We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.
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Love-making is radical, while marriage is conservative.
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It is always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.
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When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else - we are the busiest people in the world.
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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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It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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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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The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity.
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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.
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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 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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The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its antihumanity.
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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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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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It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature.
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Every extreme attitude is a fight from the self.
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