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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.

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
Great
Cause
Something
Becomes
Causes
Idea
Business
Ideas
Firsts
Racket
First
Finally

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The chief difference between me and others is that I have plenty of time not only because I am without a multitude of responsibilities and without daily tasks, which demand attention: But also because I am basically without ambition. Neither the present nor the future has claims on me.
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Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder.
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There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.
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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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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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All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.
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Nature has no compassion. Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
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The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.
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people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to conserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change.
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Woe to him inside a non-conformist clique who does not conform to non-conformity.
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Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.
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There is a totalitarian regime inside every one of us. We are ruled by a ruthless politburo which sets our norms and drives us from one five-year plan to another. The autonomous individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.
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The majority prove their worth by keeping busy. A busy life is the nearest thing to a purposeful life.
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Man's chief goal in life is still to become and stay human, and defend his achievements against the encroachment of nature.
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The passion for equality is partly a passion for anonymity: to be one thread of the many which make up a tunic one thread not distinguishable from the others. No one can then point us out, measure us against others and expose our inferiority.
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Laughter to begin with was probably glee at the misfortunes of others. The baring of the teeth in laughter hints at its savage ancestry. Animals have no malice, hence also no laughter. They never savor the sudden glory of Schadenfreude. It was its infectious quality that made of laughter a medium of mutuality.
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We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs subordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling.
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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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Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
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The short-lived self, teetering on the edge of extinction, is the only thing that can ever really matter.
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