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They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.

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
Happy
Freedom
Loudest
Free
Clamor
Often
Believer
Likely
Ones
Least
Society

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The ideal of self-advancement which the civilizing west offers to backward populations brings with it the plague of individual frustration. All the advantages brought by the West are ineffectual substitutes for the sheltering and soothing anonymity of communal existence.
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Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.
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The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.
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If anybody asks me what I have accomplished, I will say all I have accomplished is that I have written a few good sentences.
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A successful social technique consists perhaps in finding unobjectionable means for individual self-assertion.
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Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence.
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I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.
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If a society is to preserve stability and a degree of continuity, it must learn how to keep its adolescents from imposing their tastes, values, and fantasies on everyday life.
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We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.
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It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
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Unlimited opportunities can be as potent a cause of frustration as a paucity or lack of opportunities.
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