Quote

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

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Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.
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Intolerance is the ''Do Not Touch'' sign on something that cannot bear touching. We do not mind having our hair ruffled, but we will not tolerate any familiarity with the toupee which covers our baldness.
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It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.
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This food-and-shelter theory concerning man's efforts is without insight. The desire for praise is more imperative than the desire for food and shelter
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It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.
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Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience.
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It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
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In an adequate social order, the untalented should be able to acquire a sense of usefulness and of growth without interfering with the development of talent around them
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America is still the best country for the common man -- white or black ... if he can't make it here he won't make it anywhere else.
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In human affairs every solution serves only to sharpen the problem, to show us more clearly what we are up against. There are no final solutions.
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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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The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop.
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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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A nation without dregs and malcontents is orderly, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come.
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The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves.
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The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.
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...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
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We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.
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Quite often the social doctors become part of the disease.
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A man's soul is pierced as it were with holes, and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.
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