1902-1983, American Author, Philosopher
A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.
Eric Hoffer – [Minorities]
A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time.
Eric Hoffer – [Greatness]
A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed.
Eric Hoffer – [Negotiation]
A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.
Eric Hoffer – [Heresy]
A man by himself is in bad company.
Eric Hoffer – [Solitude]
A soul that is reluctant to share does not as a rule have much of its own. Miserliness is here a symptom of meagerness.
Eric Hoffer – [Misers and Misery]
A successful social technique consists perhaps in finding unobjectionable means for individual self-assertion.
Eric Hoffer – [Socializing and Socialism]
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
Eric Hoffer – [Faith]
Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat.
Eric Hoffer – [Action]
An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.
Eric Hoffer – [Stupidity]
Animals often strike us as passionate machines.
Eric Hoffer – [Animals]
Capitalism is at its liberating best in a noncapitalist environment. The crypto-businessman is the true revolutionary in a Communist country.
Eric Hoffer – [Capitalism]
Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.
Eric Hoffer – [Compassion]
Death has but one terror, that it has no tomorrow.
Eric Hoffer – [Death and Dying]
Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy — the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.
Eric Hoffer – [Disappointments]
Dissipation is a form of self-sacrifice.
Eric Hoffer – [Dissipation]
Every new adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem.
Eric Hoffer – [Self-esteem]
Facts are counterrevolutionary.
Eric Hoffer – [Facts]
Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. Thus a feeling of utter unworthiness can be a source of courage.
Eric Hoffer – [Fear]
Fear of becoming a has been keeps some people from becoming anything.
Eric Hoffer – [Fear]