747 Quotes by Eric Hoffer

To dispose a soul to action we must upset its equilibrium.

The future belongs to the learners-not the knowers.

There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people: we are laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.

To wrong those we hate is to add fuel to our hatred. Conversely, to treat an enemy with magnanimity is to blunt our hatred for him.

There is probably an element of malice in our readiness to overestimate people - we are, as it were, laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.

The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.

To be ruthless requires belief that our life on earth is but a brief prelude to an afterlife, or a temporary sacrifice before some utopia can be instituted. Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

The education explosion is producing a vast number of people who want to live significant, important lives but lack the ability to satisfy this craving for importance by individual achievement. The country is being swamped with nobodies who want to be somebodies.

You cannot gage the intelligence of an American by talking with him