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Eric Hoffer Quotes

1902–1983 United States

Eric Hoffer (25 July 1902 – 21 May 1983) was an American writer on social and political philosophy. His first book, The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements (1951) is widely recognized as a classic on mass-movements and the psychological roots of fanaticism.

United States
Non-fiction authors
Philosophers
Psychologists
Science authors

Also known as: Hoffer, Eric

Random Eric Hoffer quote

218 quotes

It is loneliness that makes the loudest noise. This is as true of men as of dogs.

Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question.

Reflections on the Human Condition (2006)

It is not good for our efforts at self-realization to know the opinions other people have of us. It is difficult or perhaps impossible to be ourselves if we are known.

Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

A multitude of words is probably the most formidable means of blurring and obscuring thought. There is no thought, however momentous, that cannot be expressed lucidly in 200 words.

Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements (1951)

To the excessively fearful the chief characteristic of power is its arbitrariness. Man had to gain enormously in confidence before he could conceive an all-powerful God who obeys his own laws.

Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)

Those who discover things for themselves and express them in their own way are not overly bothered by the fact that others have already discovered these things — have even discovered them over and over again — and have expressed what they found in all manner of ways.

Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

What monstrosities would walk the streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds.

Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)

Retribution often means that we eventually do to ourselves what we have done unto others.

They hate not wickedness but weakness. When it is their power to do so, the weak destroy weakness wherever they see it.

The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day.

To spell out the obvious is often to call it in question.

The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.

Israel's Peculiar Position (1968)

I have written a number of good sentences. I have kept free of delusions. I know I am going to die soon.

Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

Nature has no compassion. Nature accepts no excuses and the only punishment it knows is death.

Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)

They who feel guilty are afraid, and they who are afraid somehow feel guilty. To the onlooker, too, the fearful seem guilty.

The Passionate State of Mind (1954)

Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.

The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect.

The Temper of Our Time (1967)

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

The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.

Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Eric Hoffer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.