Eric Hoffer

“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.”

“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.”

“Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership.”

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

“It sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.”

“We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.”

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

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

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

“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.”

“We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.”

“Animals often strike us as passionate machines.”

“Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous.”

“Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.”

“Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect.”

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

“The misery of a child is interesting to a mother, the misery of a young man is interesting to a young woman, the misery of an old man is interesting to nobody.”

“I hang onto my prejudices, they are the testicles of my mind.”

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