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Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.

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
Energies
Dissent
Released
Masses
Mass
Freedom
Energy
Irritating
Exhilarating

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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.
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Language was invented to ask questions.
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We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.
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Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.
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Where unity and self-sacrifice are indispensable for the normal functioning of society, everyday life is likely to be either religiofied (common tasks turned into holy causes) or militarized.
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The capacity for getting along with our neighbor depends to a large extent on the capacity for getting along with ourselves. The self-respecting individual will try to be as tolerant of his neighbor's shortcomings as he is of his own.
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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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Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.
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One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputations.
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It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
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There can be no mass movement without some deliberate misrepresentation of facts.
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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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The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.
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That which is unique and worthwhile in us makes itself felt only in flashes. If we do not know how to catch and savor the flashes we are without growth and exhilaration.
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They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.
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