Quote

Resistance, whether to one's appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.

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
Chiefs
Factors
Resistance
Ways
Appetites
Whether
Shaping
Character
Factor
Way
Appetite
World
Chief

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We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.
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In human affairs, the best stimulus for running ahead is to have something we must run from.
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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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People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks 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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All great art is revolutionary because it touches upon the reality of man and questions the reality of the various transitory forms of human society.
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Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
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There is no reason why the profoundest thoughts should not make easy and exciting reading. A profound thought is an exciting thing as exciting as a detective's deductions or hunches. The simpler the words in which a thought is expressed the more stimulating its effect.
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Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.
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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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Nature has no compassion. Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.
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Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
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We find it hard to apply the knowledge of ourselves to our judgment of others. The fact that we are never of one kind, that we never love without reservations and never hate with all our being cannot prevent us from seeing others as wholly black or white.
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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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