Forum contributor Ben Sanchez says he came across the following quotes by American social writer Eric Hoffer and suggested having them posted in the Forum.
So here goes:
“It is by its promise of a sense of power that evil often attracts the weak.”
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“It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one’s neighbor.”
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“It is not so much the example of others we imitate as the reflection of ourselves in their eyes and the echo of ourselves in their words.”
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“It is often the failure who is the pioneer in new lands, new undertakings, and new forms of expression.”
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“It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men.”
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“It almost seems that nobody can hate America as much as native Americans. America needs new immigrants to love and cherish it.”
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“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know.”
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“Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy—the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.”
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“Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.”
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“An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything into an empty head.”
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“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”
ABOUT THE WRITER:
Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1902 – May 21, 1983) was an American social writer. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. Hoffer was influenced by his modest roots and working-class surroundings, seeing vast human potential in them. He was born in the Bronx of immigrant parents and, during World War II, worked as a longshoreman in The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. In a letter to a friend, he wrote: “My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting.”
