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Mass movements do not usually rise until the prevailing order has been discredited.

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
Discredited
Prevailing
Movements
Rise
Mass
Usually
Movement
Order

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Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.
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That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.
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Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest.
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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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We usually see only the things we are looking for- so much so that we sometimes see them where they are not.
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We are ready to die for an opinion but not for a fact: indeed, it is by our readiness to die that we try to prove the factualness of our opinion.
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They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free 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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Ours is a golden age of minorities. At no time in the past have dissident minorities felt so much at home and had so much room to throw their weight around. They speak and act as if they were the people, and what they abominate most is the dissent of the majority.
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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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