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The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.

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
Mark
Along
Leader
Ability
Social
Without
Vigor
Exceptional

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The self-despisers are less intent on their own increase than on the diminution of others. Where self-esteem is unobtainable, envy takes the place of greed.
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The ruthlessness born of self-seeking is ineffectual compared with the ruthlessness sustained by dedication to a holy cause. God wishes, said Calvin, that one should put aside all humanity when it is a question of striving for His glory.
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Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
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Nowhere at present is there such a measureless loathing of their country by educated people as in America.
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Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest.
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Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.
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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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...in the shaping of a life, chance and the ability to respond to chance are everything.
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When cowardice becomes a fashion its adherents are without number, and it masquerades as forbearance, reasonableness and whatnot.
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You accept certain unlovely things about yourself and manage to live with them. The atonement for such an acceptance is that you make allowances for others - that you cleanse yourself of the sin of self-righteousness.
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No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments.
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Man is the only creature that strives to surpass himself, and yearns for the impossible.
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Language was invented to ask questions.
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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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We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.
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Children are the keys of paradise.
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Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country.
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The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.
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Only the individual who has come to terms with his self can have a dispassionate attitude toward the world.
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Nothing comes easily. My work smells of sweat.
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