Quote

Action is basically a reaction against loss of balance - a flailing of the arms to to regain one's balance. To dispose a soul to action, we must upset its equilibrium.

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
Basically
Balance
Flailing
Loss
Dispose
Arms
Regain
Action
Equilibrium
Soul
Reaction
Must
Reactions
Upset

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We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.
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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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The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious.
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Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
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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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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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Should Americans begin to hate foreigners wholeheartedly, it will be an indication that they have lost confidence in their own way of life.
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The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.
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The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.
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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.
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A man's worth is what he is divided by what he thinks he is.
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We are ready to die for an opinion but not for a fact
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The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.
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