Quotes by Eric Hoffer

“The greatest weariness comes from work not done.”

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

“It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.”

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

“No one is truly literate who cannot read his own heart.”

“We feel free when we escape - even if it be but from the frying pan to the fire.”

“The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.”

“If the Communists win Europe and a large part of the world, it will not be because they know how to stir up discontent or how to infect people with hatred, but because they know how to preach hope.”

“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all the unifying agents. Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a god, but never without a belief in a devil.”

“Even the sober desire for progress is sustained by faithfaith in the intrinsic goodness of human nature and in the omnipotence of science. It is a defiant and blasphemous faith, not unlike that hel...”

“Anger is the prelude to courage.”

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

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

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

“Ideas have significance for him only as a prelude to action.”

“Jesus was not a Christian, nor was Marx a Marxist.”

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

“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.”

“In the alchemy of man's soul almost all noble attributes--courage, honor, love, hope, faith, duty, loyalty, etc.--can be transmuted into ruthlessness. Compassion alone stands apart from the continu...”

“The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.”