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Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.

— Eric Hoffer Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)

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Faith

More quotes by Eric Hoffer

Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.

The True Believer (1951)

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

The True Believer (1951)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.

Israel's Peculiar Position (1968)

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

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

There is hardly a single instance of cultural vigor marked by moderation in expression.

Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook (2005)

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Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897)

Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.

Thomas Jefferson Letter to Peter Carr (1787)

I had never doubted my own abilities, but I was quite prepared to believe that "the world" would decline to recognize them.

Colin Wilson Postscript to the Outsider (1967)

Love is the active, working principle in all true faith. It is its very soul, without which it is dead. "Faith works by love."

Jonathan Edwards Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Eric Hoffer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.