Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Eric Hoffer Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Jul 25, 1902
  • Died: May 21, 1983

Eric Hoffer was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer, was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change was his finest work.

Someone who thinks the world is always cheating him is right. He is missing that wonderful feeling of trust in someone or something.

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.

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

It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.

Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership.

There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his own house.

We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.

Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.

Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.

The best part of the art of living is to know how to grow old gracefully.

Many of the insights of the saint stem from their experience as sinners.

Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart.

The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.

The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.

It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

Man was nature's mistake she neglected to finish him and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.

The greatest weariness comes from work not done.

We do not really feel grateful toward those who make our dreams come true they ruin our dreams.

Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.

It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.

Rudeness is a weak imitation of strength.

When we believe ourselves in possession of the only truth, we are likely to be indifferent to common everyday truths.

We are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most vehement about.

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

The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from becoming anything.

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

There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.