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

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

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.

Eric Hoffer

A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed.

Eric Hoffer

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it.

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

What greater reassurance can the weak have than that they are like anyone else?

Eric Hoffer

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

Eric Hoffer

Animals often strike us as passionate machines.

Eric Hoffer

The sick in soul insist that it is humanity that is sick, and they are the surgeons to operate on it. They want to turn the world into a sickroom. And once they get humanity strapped to the operating table, they operate on it with an ax.

Eric Hoffer

Anger is the prelude to courage.

Eric Hoffer

When people are bored, it is primarily with their own selves that they are bored.

Eric Hoffer

If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope.

Eric Hoffer

There is perhaps some hope to be derived from the fact that in most instances where an attempt to realize an ideal society gave birth to the ugliness and violence of a prolonged active mass movement the experiment was made on a vast scale and with a ...

Eric Hoffer

The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause.

Eric Hoffer

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

Eric Hoffer

The Jews are a peculiar people: Things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it. Poland and Czechoslovakia did it. Turkey threw ou...

Eric Hoffer

Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and turns into a racket.

Eric Hoffer

It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations -- past and present -- are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individual's hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained unchanged through the ...

Eric Hoffer

In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists.

Eric Hoffer

We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.

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