Quotes by Eric Hoffer

About Eric Hoffer:

Eric Hoffer was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change was his finest work.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Many of the insights of the saint stem from their experience as sinners.

Eric Hoffer

There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his own house.

Eric Hoffer

It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.

Eric Hoffer

Children are the keys of paradise.

Eric Hoffer

In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Eric Hoffer

We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.

Eric Hoffer

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to them and often forget the ends.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves.

Eric Hoffer

Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.

Eric Hoffer

Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

Eric Hoffer

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

Eric Hoffer

Author Bio

  • NameEric Hoffer
  • DescriptionAmerican psychologist
  • BornJuly 25, 1902
  • DiedMay 21, 1983
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Philosopher; Psychologist
  • AwardsPresidential Medal Of Freedom