747 Quotes by Eric Hoffer

The individual who has to justify his existence by his own efforts is in eternal bondage to himself.

Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence.

Without a sense of proportion there can be neither good taste nor genuine intelligence, nor perhaps moral integrity.

Nonconformists travel as a rule in bunches. You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone. And woe to him inside a nonconformist clique who does not conform with nonconformity.

The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility

A nation without dregs and malcontents is orderly, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come.

Some people have no original ideas because they do not think well enough of themselves to consider their ideas worth noticing and developing.

Call not that man wretched, who whatever ills he suffers, has a child to love.

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