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A passionate obsession with the outside world or the private lives of others is an attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life

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
World
Passionate
Lack
Private
Meaning
Outside
Lives
Compensate
Others
Obsession
Life
Attempt

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However different the holy causes people die for, they perhaps die basically for the same thing.
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Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
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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 most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.
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The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders.
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To have a grievance is to have a purpose in life. It not infrequently happens that those who hunger for hope give their allegiance to him who offers them a grievance.
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In a trader-dominated society, the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but it given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe's craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe's wrath and scorn.
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There is a tendency to judge a race, a nation or any distinct group by its leastworthy members.
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Though they seem at opposite poles, fanatics of all kinds are actually crowded together at one end. It is the fanatic and the moderate who are poles apart and never meet.
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Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.
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Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.
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My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting.
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Where everything is possible miracles become commonplaces, but the familiar ceases to be self-evident.
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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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It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.
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It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.
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