Quotes By Eric Hoffer

Sometimes we feel the loss of a prejudice as a loss of vigor.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time.

The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything.

It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.

Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.

Animals often strike us as passionate machines.

It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.

We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.

Whenever you trace the origin of a skill or practices which played a crucial role in the ascent of man, we usually reach the realm of play.

We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true; they ruin our dreams.

We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.

The misery of a child is interesting to a mother, the misery of a young man is interesting to a young woman, the misery of an old man is interesting to nobody.

The greatest weariness comes from work not done.

An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.

A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.

There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive.

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

The world leans on us. When we sag, the whole world seems to droop.

It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.

Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.

I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.

The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.

There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.

When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.