747 Quotes by Eric Hoffer

Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

One is not quite certain that creativeness in the arts, literature, and science functions best in an environment of absolute freedom. Chances are that a relatively mild tyranny stimulates creativeness.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.

No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion; it is an evil government.

Radicalism itself ceases to be radical when absorbed mainly in preserving its control over a society or an economy.

We are more prone to generalize the bad than the good. We assume that the bad is more potent and contagious.

We need not only a purpose in life to give meaning to our existence but also something to give meaning to our suffering. We need as much something to suffer for as something to live for.

I could never figure out or probably did not take the trouble to figure out what the great philosophical problems are about. The momentous statements I come across are at best a storm in a teacup. There are quite a number of people who have a vested interest in the stuff, make a noble living out of it, and they conspire with one another to keep it alive.

A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.