747 Quotes by Eric Hoffer

It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.

We are unified both by hating in common and by being hated in common.

The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.

The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the singlehanded defiance of the world.

The true believer, no matter how rowdy and violent his acts, is basically an obedient and submissive person.

It is not actual suffering but the taste of better things which excites people to revolt.

We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries more weight than our self-interest.

It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.

Animals can learn, but it is not by learning that they become dogs, cats, or horses. Only man has to learn to become what he is supposed to be.