Quotations by Author

Eric Hoffer

Thus blind faith is to a considerable extent a substitute for the lost faith in ourselves; insatiable desire a substitute for hope; accumulation a substitute for growth; fervent hustling a substitute for purposeful action; and pride a substitute for unattainable self-respect.

The pride that at present pervades the world is the claim that one is a member of a chosen group – be it a nation, race, church or party. No other attitude has so impaired the oneness of the human species and contributed so much to the savage strife of our time.

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.

Children are the keys of paradise.

Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.

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

It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.

It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.

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

Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.

Man was nature's mistake she neglected to finish him and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.

Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something.

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

There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.

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

We have rudiments of reverence for the human body, but we consider as nothing the rape of the human mind.

Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.

A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.

A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.

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.

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

It is the stretched sould that makes music, and souls are stretched by the pull of opposites - opposite bents, tastes, yearnings, loyalties. Where there is no polarity, where energies flow smoothly in one direction, there will be much doing but no music.