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A Ruling Intelligentsia, Whether In Europe, Asia Or Africa, Treats The Masses As Raw Material To Be Experimented On, Processed, And Wasted At Will.
-Eric Hoffer
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A Ruling Intelligentsia, Whether

Eric Hoffer
...
A Ruling Intelligentsia, Whether In Europe, Asia Or Africa, Treats The Masses As Raw Material To Be Experimented On, Processed, And Wasted At Will.

Understanding the Quote: "a ruling intelligentsia, whether in europe, asia or africa, treats the masses..."

This quote by Eric Hoffer reflects deeply on the theme of patriotic. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Patriotic, Europe, Raw Materials, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Eric Hoffer interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer is celebrated for insightful thoughts on patriotic and europe. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Patriotic
Europe
Raw Materials
More From Eric Hoffer
...the Majority Of People Cannot Endure The Bareness And Futility Of Their Lives Unless They Have Some Ardent Dedication, Or Some Passionate Pursuit In Which They Can Lose Themselves.
Dedication
People
Majority
We Often Use Strong Language Not To Express A Powerful Emotion But To Evoke It In Us.
Strong
Powerful
Use
Those Who See Their Lives As Spoiled And Wasted Crave Equality And Fraternity More Than They Do Freedom. If They Clamor For Freedom, It Is But Freedom To Establish Equality And Uniformity.
Equality
Fraternity
Spoiled
It Is Not Love Of Self But Hatred Of Self Which Is At The Root Of The Troubles That Afflict Our World.
Our World
Self
Roots
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.
Men
Ideas
Evil
It Is The Acquisition Of Skills In Particular, Irrespective Of Their Utility, That Is Potent In Making Life Meaningful. Since Man Has No Inborn Skills, The Survival Of The Species Has Depended On The Ability To Acquire And Perfect Skills. Hence The Mastery Of Skills Is A Uniquely Human Activity And Yields Deep Satisfaction.
Meaningful
Men
Skills
A Ruling Intelligentsia, Whether In Europe, Asia Or Africa, Treats The Masses As Raw Material To Be Experimented On, Processed, And Wasted At Will.
Patriotic
Europe
Raw Materials
Every Intense Desire Is Perhaps Basically A Desire To Be Different From What We Are.
Desire
Different
Intense
The Act Of Self-denial Seems To Confer On Us The Right To Be Harsh And Merciless Toward Others.
Self
Denial
Harsh
To Some, Freedom Means The Opportunity To Do What They Want To Do; To Most It Means Not To Do What They Do Not Want To Do. It Is Perhaps True That Those Who Can Grow Will Feel Free Under Any Condition.
Respect
Freedom
Mean
This Food-and-shelter Theory Concerning Man's Efforts Is Without Insight. The Desire For Praise Is More Imperative Than The Desire For Food And Shelter
Men
Effort
Desire
Our Frustration Is Greater When We Have Much And Want More Than When We Have Nothing And Want Some. We Are Less Dissatisfied When We Lack Many Things Than When We Seem To Lack But One Thing.
Frustration
Confusion
Want
There Is Probably Nothing More Sublime Than Discontent Transmuted Into A Work Of Art, A Scientific Discovery, And So On.
Art
Discovery
Creative
Language Was Invented To Ask Questions.
Humanness Is
Language
Asks
The Real Persuaders Are Our Appetites, Our Fears And Above All Our Vanity. The Skillful Propagandist Stirs And Coaches These Internal Persuaders.
Fear
Real
Vanity
We Used To Think That Revolutions Are The Cause Of Change. Actually It Is The Other Way Around: Change Prepares The Ground For Revolution.
Thinking
Literature
Way
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
Struggle
Shelter
Poverty
There Is No Doubt That In Exchanging A Self-centered For A Selfless Life We Gain Enormously In Self-esteem. The Vanity Of The Selfless, Even Those Who Practice Utmost Humility, Is Boundless.
Self Esteem
Humility
Vanity
The Fanatical Communist Refuses To Believe Any Unfavorable Report Or Evidence About Russia, Nor Will He Be Disillusioned By Seeing With His Own Eyes The Cruel Misery Inside The Soviet Promised Land. It Is The True Believer's Ability To "shut His Eyes And Stop His Ears" To Facts That Do Not Deserve To Be Either Seen Or Heard Which Is The Source Of His Unequaled Fortitude And Constancy. He Cannot Be Frightened By Danger, Nor Disheartened By Obstacles, Nor Baffled By Contradictions Because He Denies Their Existence.
Believe
Eye
Russia
Take Away Hatred From Some People, And You Have Men Without Faith.
Men
People
Hatred
Nature Attains Perfection, But Man Never Does. There Is A Perfect Ant, A Perfect Bee, But Man Is Perpetually Unfinished. He Is Both An Unfinished Animal And An Unfinished Man. It Is This Incurable Unfinishedness Which Sets Man Apart From Other Living Things. For, In The Attempt To Finish Himself, Man Becomes A Creator. Moreover, The Incurable Unfinishedness Keeps Man Perpetually Immature, Perpetually Capable Of Learning And Growing.
Animal
Men
Perfect
Should Israel Perish, The Holocaust Will Be Upon Us.
Israel
Holocaust
Should
People Who Bite The Hand That Feeds Them Usually Lick The Boot That Kicks Them.
Respect
Gratitude
Hands
For Though Ours Is A Godless Age, It Is The Very Opposite Of Irreligious. The True Believer Is Everywhere On The March, And Both By Converting And Antagonizing He Is Shaping The World In His Own Image. And Whether We Are To Line Up With Him Or Against Him, It Is Well That We Should Know All We Can Concerning His Nature And Potentialities.
Opposites
Age
World
Our Credulity Is Greatest Concerning The Things We Know Least About. And Since We Know Least About Ourselves, We Are Ready To Believe All That Is Said About Us. Hence The Mysterious Power Of Both Flattery And Calumny.
Believe
Knowledge
Calumny Is
The Trouble Is Not Chiefly That Our Universities Are Unfit For Students But That Many Present-day Students Are Unfit For Universities.
Students
Trouble
University
Self-righteousness Is A Manifestation Of Self-contempt.
Self
Righteousness
Manifestation
The Remarkable Thing Is That It Is The Crowded Life That Is Most Easily Remembered. A Life Full Of Turns, Achievements, Disappointments, Surprises, And Crises Is A Life Full Of Landmarks. The Empty Life Has Even Its Few Details Blurred, And Cannot Be Remembered With Certainty.
Disappointment
Empty Life
Achievement
Retribution Often Means That We Eventually Do To Ourselves What We Have Done Unto Others.
Mean
Done
Vengeance
Every Era Has A Currency That Buys Souls. In Some The Currency Is Pride, In Others It Is Hope, In Still Others It Is A Holy Cause. There Are Of Course Times When Hard Cash Will Buy Souls, And The Remarkable Thing Is That Such Times Are Marked By Civility, Tolerance, And The Smooth Working Of Everyday Life.
Wise
Wisdom
Pride
There Is A Tendency To Judge A Race, A Nation Or Any Distinct Group By Its Leastworthy Members.
Race
Judging
Tolerance
Radicalism Itself Ceases To Be Radical When Absorbed Mainly In Preserving Its Control Over A Society Or An Economy.
Radicalism
Economy
Radical
No Totalitarian Censor Can Approach The Implacability Of The Censor Who Controls The Line Of Communication Between The Outer World And Our Consciousness. Nothing Is Allowed To Reach Us Which Might Weaken Our Confidence And Lower Our Morale. To Most Of Us Nothing Is So Invisible As An Unpleasant Truth.
Communication
World
Lines
The Basic Test Of Freedom Is Perhaps Less In What We Are Free To Do Than In What We Are Free Not To Do.
Freedom
Tests
The World Leans On Us. When We Sag, The Whole World Seems To Droop.
Depression
Literature
World
No Matter What Our Achievements Might Be, We Think Well Of Ourselves Only In Rare Moments. We Need People To Bear Witness Against Our Inner Judge, Who Keeps Book On Our Shortcomings And Transgressions. We Need People To Convince Us That We Are Not As Bad As We Think We Are.
Motivational
Book
Thinking
A Preoccupation With The Future Not Only Prevents Us From Seeing The Present As It Is But Often Prompts Us To Rearrange The Past.
Future
Adversity
Past
More Significant Than The Fact That Poets Write Abstrusely, Painters Paint Abstractly, And Composers Compose Unintelligible Music Is That People Should Admire What They Cannot Understand; Indeed, Admire That Which Has No Meaning Or Principle.
Pain
Writing
People
Fair Play With Others Is Primarily The Practice Of Not Blaming Them For Anything That Is Wrong With Us. We Tend To Rub Our Guilty Conscience Against Others The Way We Wipe Dirty Fingers On A Rag. This Is As Evil A Misuse Of Others As The Practice Of Exploitation.
Dirty
Practice
Play
One Of The Chief Differences Between An Adult And A Juvenile Is That The Adult Knows When He Is An Ass While The Juvenile Never Does.
Wisdom
Differences
Adults
The Ignorant Are A Reservoir Of Daring. It Almost Seems That Those Who Have Yet To Discover The Known Are Particularly Equipped For Dealing With The Unknown. The Unlearned Have Often Rushed In Where The Learned Feared To Tread, And It Is The Credulous Who Are Tempted To Attempt The Impossible. They Know Not Whither They Are Going, And Give Chance A Chance.
Giving
Ignorant
Atheism
Power Corrupts The Few, While Weakness Corrupts The Many.
Work
Power
Weakness
They Who Lack Talent Expect Things To Happen Without Effort. They Ascribe Failure To A Lack Of Inspiration Or Ability, Or To Misfortune, Rather Than To Insufficient Application. At The Core Of Every True Talent There Is An Awareness Of The Difficulties Inherent In Any Achievement, And The Confidence That By Persistence And Patience Something Worthwhile Will Be Realized. Thus Talent Is A Species Of Vigor.
Failure
Inspiration
Persistence
To Be Fully Alive Is To Feel That Everything Is Possible.
Alive
Feels
A Man By Himself Is In Bad Company.
Men
Solitude
Bad Company
The Ideal Of Self-advancement Which The Civilizing West Offers To Backward Populations Brings With It The Plague Of Individual Frustration. All The Advantages Brought By The West Are Ineffectual Substitutes For The Sheltering And Soothing Anonymity Of Communal Existence.
Frustration
Self
Society
A Heresy Can Spring Only From A System That Is In Full Vigor.
Spring
Vigor
Literature
To Be Aware How Fruitful The Playful Mood Can Be Is To Be Immune To The Propaganda Of The Alienated, Which Extols Resentment As A Fuel Of Achievement.
Achievement
Fuel
Resentment
Those Of Little Faith Are Of Little Hatred.
Hatred
Religion
Littles
We Cannot Hate Those Who We Despise.
Hate
Despise
Creativity Is The Ability To Introduce Order Into The Randomness Of Nature.
Creativity
Order
Chaos
What Merit There Is In My Thinking Is Derived From Two Peculiarities: (1) My Inability To Be Familiar With Anything. I Simply Can't Take Things For Granted. (2) My Endless Patience. I Assume That The Only Way To Find An Answer Is To Hang On Long Enough And Keep Groping.
Thinking
Two
Long
To The Frustrated, Freedom From Responsibility Is More Attractive Than Freedom From Restraint.
Responsibility
Frustrated
Attractive
Actual Creativeness Is A Matter Of Moments. One Has To Piece Together The Minute Grains To Make A Lump. And It Is So Easy To Miss The Momentary Flashes, It Is Like Sluicing In Placer Mining. He Who Lets The Flakes Float By Has Nothing To Show For His Trouble.
Missing
Together
Pieces
Man Is The Only Creature That Strives To Surpass Himself, And Yearns For The Impossible.
Work
Ambition
Men
The Best Part Of The Art Of Living Is To Know How To Grow Old Gracefully.
Art
Retirement
Nursing
The Capacity For Getting Along With Our Neighbor Depends To A Large Extent On The Capacity For Getting Along With Ourselves. The Self-respecting Individual Will Try To Be As Tolerant Of His Neighbor's Shortcomings As He Is Of His Own.
Respect
Self
Trying
The Leader Has To Be Practical And A Realist, Yet Must Talk The Language Of The Visionary And The Idealist.
Leadership
Coaching
Vision
Social Improvement Is Attained More Readily By A Concern With The Quality Of Results Than With The Purity Of Motives.
Society
Quality
Improvement
The Burning Conviction That We Have A Holy Duty Towards Others Is Often A Way Of Attaching Our Drowning Selves To A Passing Raft. What Looks Like A Giving Hand Is Often A Holding On For Dear Life. Take Away Our Holy Duties And You Leave Our Lives Puny And Meaningless. There Is No Doubt That In Exchanging A Self-centered For A Selfless Life We Gain Enormously In Self-esteem. The Vanity Of The Selfless, Even Those Who Practice Utmost Humility, Is Boundless.
Self Esteem
Humility
Hands
There Is A Time When The Word "eventually" Has The Soothing Effect Of A Promise, And A Time When The Word Evokes In Us Bitterness And Scorn.
Promise
Bitterness
Evoke
It Is The Malady Of Our Age That The Young Are So Busy Teaching Us That They Have No Time Left To Learn.
Teacher
Time
Children
Only The Individual Who Has Come To Terms With His Self Can Have A Dispassionate Attitude Toward The World.
Attitude
Self
World
A Society That Refuses To Strive For Superfluities Is Likely To End Up Lacking In Necessities.
Society
Strive
Ends
The Urge To Escape Our Real Self Is Also An Urge To Escape The Rational And The Obvious.
Real
Self
Obvious
A Person's Creative Ability Decreases In Direct Proportion To The Degree To Which He Takes Himself Seriously.
Creative
Degrees
Proportion
When Watching Men Of Power In Action It Must Be Always Kept In Mind That, Whether They Know It Or Not, Their Main Purpose Is The Elimination Or Neutralization Of The Independent Individual- The Independent Voter, Consumer, Worker, Owner, Thinker- And That Every Device They Employ Aims At Turning Men Into A Manipulable Animated Instrument Which Is Aristotle's Definition Of A Slave.
Independent
Men
Mind
Imitation Is Often A Shortcut To A Solution. We Copy When We Lack The Inclination, The Ability Or The Time To Work Out An Independent Solution. People In A Hurry Will Imitate More Readily Than People At Leisure. Hustling Thus Tends To Produce Uniformity. And In The Deliberate Fusing Of Individuals Into A Compact Group, Incessant Action Will Play A Considerable Role.
Independent
Play
People
The Well-adjusted Make Poor Prophets.
Poor
Prophet
Wells
...that Genius Is A Rare Exception (:) It's Not True. Talent And Genius Have Been Wasted On Enormous Scale Throughout Our History; This Is All I Know For Sure.
Dark
Age
Genius
Those Who Would Sacrifice A Generation To Realize An Ideal Are The Enemies Of Mankind.
Sacrifice
Enemy
Generations
The Only Way To Predict The Future Is To Have Power To Shape The Future.
Future
Power
Shapes
The Self-despisers Are Less Intent On Their Own Increase Than On The Diminution Of Others. Where Self-esteem Is Unobtainable, Envy Takes The Place Of Greed.
Bullying
Self Esteem
Envy
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.
Doe
Woe
Conformity
...in The Shaping Of A Life, Chance And The Ability To Respond To Chance Are Everything.
Chance
Ability
Chances Are
When We Believe Ourselves In Possession Of The Only Truth, We Are Likely To Be Indifferent To Common Everyday Truths.
Believe
Everyday
Common
However Different The Holy Causes People Die For, They Perhaps Die Basically For The Same Thing.
People
Different
Holiness
Naivete In Grownups Is Often Charming; But When Coupled With Vanity It Is Indistinguishable From Stupidity.
Ignorance
Vanity
Stupidity
People Unfit For Freedom - Who Cannot Do Much With It - Are Hungry For Power. The Desire For Freedom Is An Attribute Of A "have" Type Of Self. It Says: Leave Me Alone And I Shall Grow, Learn, And Realize My Capacities. The Desire For Power Is Basically An Attribute Of A "have Not" Type Of Self.
Equality
Self
People
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.
Winning
Europe
People
To Learn You Need A Certain Degree Of Confidence, Not Too Much And Not Too Little. If You Have Too Little Confidence, You Will Think You Can't Learn. If You Have Too Much, You Will Think You Don't Have To Learn.
Thinking
Degrees
Needs
The Search For Happiness Is One Of The Chief Sources Of Unhappiness.
Happiness
Happy
Laughter
America Is Still The Best Country For The Common Man -- White Or Black ... If He Can't Make It Here He Won't Make It Anywhere Else.
Country
Men
White
That Which Is Unique And Worthwhile In Us Makes Itself Felt Only In Flashes. If We Do Not Know How To Catch And Savor The Flashes We Are Without Growth And Exhilaration.
Unique
Growth
Exhilaration
It Takes A Vice To Check A Vice, And Virtue Is The By-product Of A Stalemate Between Opposite Vices.
Opposites
Vices
Virtue
When Grubbing For Necessities Man Is Still An Animal. He Becomes Uniquely Human When He Reaches Out For The Superfluous And Extravagant.
Animal
Men
Society
...the Differences Between The Conservative And The Radical Seem To Spring Mainly From Their Attitude Toward The Future. Fear Of The Future Causes Us To Lean Against And Cling To The Present, While Faith In The Future Renders Us Receptive To Change.
Attitude
Spring
Differences
It Is Doubtful If The Oppressed Ever Fight For Freedom. They Fight For Pride And Power - Power To Oppress Others. The Oppressed Want Above All To Imitate Their Oppressors; They Want To Retaliate.
Want
Oppressed
Oppressors
A Great Man's Greatest Good Luck Is To Die At The Right Time.
Time
Good Luck
Greatness
A Doctrine Insulates The Devout Not Only Against The Realities Around Them But Also Against Their Own Selves. The Fanatical Believer Is Not Conscious Of His Envy, Malice, Pettiness And Dishonesty. There Is A Wall Of Words Between His Consciousness And His Real Self.
Wall
Real
Self
It Is Loneliness That Makes The Loudest Noise. This Is True Of Men As Of Dogs.
Sad
I Miss You
Missing You
However Much We Talk Of The Inexorable Laws Governing The Life Of Individuals And Of Societies, We Remain At The Bottom Convinced That In Human Affairs Everything In More Or Less Fortuitous. We Do Not Even Believe In The Inevitability Of Our Own Death. Hence The Difficulty Of Deciphering The Present, Of Detecting The Seeds Of Things To Come As They Germinate Before Our Eyes. We Are Not Attuned To Seeing The Inevitable.
Life
Believe
Eye
The Wisdom Of Others Remains Dull Till It Is Writ Over With Our Own Blood. We Are Essentially Apart From The World; It Bursts Into Our Consciousness Only When It Sinks Its Teeth And Nails Into Us.
Wisdom
Blood
Teeth
Fear Comes From Uncertainty. When We Are Absolutely Certain, Whether Of Our Worth Or Worthlessness, We Are Almost Impervious To Fear. Thus A Feeling Of Utter Unworthiness Can Be A Source Of Courage.
Courage
Fear
Feelings
There Is No Telling To What Extremes Of Cruelty And Ruthlessness A Man Will Go When He Is Freed From The Fears, Hesitations, Doubts And The Vague Stirrings Of Decency That Go With Individual Judgement. When We Lose Our Individual Independence In The Corporateness Of A Mass Movement, We Find A New Freedom- Freedom To Hate, Bully, Lie, Torture, Murder And Betray Without Shame And Remorse. Herein Undoubtedly Lies Part Of The Attractiveness Of A Mass Movement
Lying
Hate
Men
A Dissenting Minority Feels Free Only When It Can Impose Its Will On The Majority: What It Abominates Most Is The Dissent Of The Majority.
Liberty
Majority
Minorities
All Mass Movements Avail Themselves Of Action As A Means Of Unification. The Conflicts A Mass Movement Seeks And Incites Serve Not Only To Down Its Enemies But Also To Strip Its Followers Of Their Distinct Individuality And Render Them More Soluble In The Collective Medium.
Mean
Individuality
Enemy
We All Have Private Ails. The Troublemakers Are They Who Need Public Cures For Their Private Ails.
Needs
Cures
Protest
Somewhere Between The Angels And The French Lies The Rest Of Humanity.
Lying
Angel
Humanity
One Word Characterizes The Most Strenuous Of The Efforts For The Advancement Of Science That I Have Made Perservereingly During Fifty-five Years; That Word Is Failure
Failure
Years
Effort
The Americans Are Poor Haters In International Affairs Because Of Their Innate Feeling Of Superiority Over All Foreigners. An American's Hatred For A Fellow American Is Far More Virulent Than Any Antipathy He Can Work Up Against Foreigners. Should Americans Begin To Hate Foreigners Wholeheartedly, It Will Be An Indication That They Have Lost Confidence In Their Own Way Of Life.
Hate
Hatred
Feelings
Our Credulity Is Greatest Concerning The Things We Know Least About.
Calumny Is
Gullibility
Knows
Whenever You Trace The Origin Of A Skill Or Practices Which Played A Crucial Role In The Ascent Of Man, We Usually Reach The Realm Of Play.
Men
Play
Skills
A Good Sentence Is A Key . It Unlocks The Mind Of The Reader.
Keys
Mind
Reader
People With A Sense Of Fulfillment Think It Is A Good World And Would Like To Conserve It As It Is, While The Frustrated Favor Radical Change.
Thinking
People
Frustrated
When People Are Bored It Is Primarily With Themselves.
Bores You
People
Boredom
We Do Not Usually Look For Allies When We Love. Indeed, We Often Look On Those Who Love With Us As Rivals And Trespassers. But We Always Look For Allies When We Hate.
Love
Hate
Allies
He Who Has Nothing And Wants Something Is Less Frustrated Than He Who Has Something And Wants More.
Want Something
Frustrated
Want
When Hopes And Dreams Are Loose In The Streets, It Is Well For The Timid To Lock Doors, Shutter Windows And Lie Low Until The Wrath Has Passed.
Dream
Lying
Wrath
Anger Is A Prelude To Courage.
Positive
Prelude
All Prayers And Hopes Are A Reaching-out For Coincidences.
Prayer
Coincidence
Reaching
Vaguely At First, Then More Distinctly, I Realized That Man Is An Eternal Stranger On This Planet.
Men
Firsts
Stranger
Passionate Intensity May Serve As A Substitute For Confidence.
Passionate
May
Intensity
It Is The Around-the-corner Brand Of Hope That Prompts People To Action, While The Distant Hope Acts As An Opiate.
Hope
People
Opiates
It Is A Sign Of Creeping Inner Death When We Can No Longer Praise The Living.
Life
Death
Literature
The Most Gifted Members Of The Human Species Are At Their Creative Best When They Cannot Have Their Way, And Must Compensate For What They Miss By Realizing And Cultivating Their Capacities And Talents.
Missing
Creative
Way
It Has Often Been Said That Power Corrupts. But It Is Perhaps Equally Important To Realize That Weakness, Too, Corrupts. Power Corrupts The Few, While Weakness Corrupts The Many. Hatred, Malice, Rudeness, Intolerance, And Suspicion Are The Faults Of Weakness. The Resentment Of The Weak Does Not Spring From Any Injustice Done To Them But From Their Sense Of Inadequacy And Impotence. We Cannot Win The Weak By Sharing Our Wealth With Them. They Feel Our Generosity As Oppression.
Spring
Winning
Power
Animals Can Learn, But It Is Not By Learning That They Become Dogs, Cats, Or Horses. Only Man Has To Learn To Become What He Is Supposed To Be.
Dog
Horse
Cat
We Can Never Have Enough Of That Which We Really Do Not Want.
Want
Satisfaction
Enough
We Are Unified Both By Hating In Common And By Being Hated In Common.
Hate
Common
Unified
There Is No Telling To What Extremes Of Cruelty And Ruthlessness A Man Will Go When He Is Freed From The Fears, Hesitations, Doubts And The Vague Stirrings Of Decency That Go With Individual Judgment.
Men
Doubt
Ruthlessness
The Birth Of The New Constitutes A Crisis, And Its Mastery Calls For A Crude And Simple Cast Of Mind -- The Mind Of A Fighter -- In Which The Virtues Of Tribal Cohesion And Fierceness And Infantile Credulity And Malleability Are Paramount. Thus Every New Beginning Recapitulates In Some Degree Man's First Beginning.
Fashion
New Beginnings
Simple
It Is Apparently Vital That We Should Be In The Dark About Ourselves Not To Be Clear About Our Intentions, Fears, And Hopes. There Is A Stubborn Effort In Us To Set Up A Compact Screen Between Consciousness And The Self.
Dark
Self
Effort
A Just Society Must Strive With All Its Might To Right Wrongs Even If Righting Wrongs Is A Highly Perilous Undertaking. But If It Is To Survive, A Just Society Must Be Strong And Resolute Enough To Deal Swiftly And Relentlessly With Those Who Would Mistake Its Good Will For Weakness.
Strong
Mistake
Weakness
To Spell Out The Obvious Is Often To Call It In Question.
Work
Obvious
Spells
The Suspicious Mind Believes More Than It Doubts. It Believes In A Formidable And Ineradicable Evil Lurking In Every Person.
Believe
Evil
Doubt
We Can Be Satisfied With Moderate Confidence In Ourselves And With A Moderately Good Opinion Of Ourselves, But The Faith We Have In A Holy Cause Has To Be Extravagant And Uncompromising.
Causes
Opinion
Holy
It Is Also Plausible That Those Movements With The Greatest Inner Contradiction And Between Profession And Practice - That Is To Say With A Strong Feeling Of Guilt - Are Likely To Be The Most Fervent In Imposing Their Faith On Others.
Strong
Practice
Feelings
Commitment Becomes Hysterical When Those Who Have Nothing To Give Advocate Generosity, And Those Who Have Nothing To Give Up Preach Renunciation.
Giving Up
Commitment
Generosity
Where Unity And Self-sacrifice Are Indispensable For The Normal Functioning Of Society, Everyday Life Is Likely To Be Either Religiofied (common Tasks Turned Into Holy Causes) Or Militarized.
Sacrifice
Self
Unity
A Nation Without Dregs And Malcontents Is Orderly, Peaceful And Pleasant, But Perhaps Without The Seed Of Things To Come.
Love
Peace
Malcontent
Propaganda ... Serves More To Justify Ourselves Than To Convince Others; And The More Reason We Have To Feel Guilty, The More Fervent Our Propaganda.
Guilty
Reason
Propaganda
Nothing So Bolsters Our Self-confidence And Reconciles Us With Ourselves As The Continuous Ability To Create; To See Things Grow And Develop Under Our Hand, Day In, Day Out.
Self Confidence
Hands
Ability
It Is Not At All Simple To Understand The Simple.
Simple
Society
Spiritual Stagnation Ensues When Man's Environment Becomes Unpredictable Or When His Inner Life Is Made Wholly Predictable.
Spiritual
Men
Society
There Is Perhaps No Better Way Of Measuring The Natural Endowment Of A Soul Than By Its Ability To Transmute Dissatisfaction Into A Creative Impulse.
Creative
Soul
Way
Our Doubts About Ourselves Cannot Be Banished Except By Working At That Which Is The One And Only Thing We Know We Ought To Do. Other People's Assertions Cannot Silence The Howling Dirge Within Us. It Is Our Talents Rusting Unused Within Us That Secrete The Poison Of Self-doubt Into Our Bloodstream.
Self
People
Silence
Youth Itself Is A Talent, A Perishable Talent.
Time
Youth
Talent
Marriage Has For Women Many Equivalents Of Joining A Mass Movement. It Offers Them A New Purpose In Life, A New Future And A New Identity (a New Name). The Boredom Of Spinsters And Of Women Who Can No Longer Find Joy And Fulfillment In Marriage Stems From An Awareness Of A Barren, Spoiled Life. By Embracing A Holy Cause And Dedicating Their Energies And Substance To Its Advancement, They Find A New Life Full Of Purpose And Meaning.
Marriage
Names
Boredom
What Greater Reassurance Can The Weak Have Than That They Are Like Anyone Else?
Reassurance
Weak
Greater
We Feel Free When We Escape - Even If It Be But From The Frying Pan To The Fire.
Freedom
Fire
Frying Pans
In A Time Of Drastic Change, It Is The Learners Who Inherit The Future.
Life
Motivational
Change
The Link Between Ideas And Action Is Rarely Direct. There Is Almost Always An Intermediate Step In Which The Idea Is Overcome.
Ideas
Overcoming
Links
It Seems That When We Are Oppressed By The Knowledge Of Our Worthlessness We Do Not See Ourselves As Lower Than Some And Higher Than Others, But As Lower Than The Lowest Of Mankind. We Hate Then The Whole World, And We Would Pour Our Wrath Upon The Whole Of Creation.
Hate
Wrath
World
The Real Antichrist Is He Who Turns The Wine Of An Original Idea Into The Water Of Mediocrity.
Real
Wine
Ideas
Absolute Power Turns Its Possessors Not Into A God But An Anti-god. For God Turned Clay Into Men, While The Absolute Despot Turns Men Into Clay.
Power
Men
Clay
It Is A Paradox That In Our Time Of Drastic Rapid Change, When The Future Is In Our Midst Devouring The Present Before Our Eyes, We Have Never Been Less Certain About What Is Ahead Of Us.
Change
Time
Future
In Products Of The Human Mind, Simplicity Marks The End Of A Process Of Refining, While Complexity Marks A Primitive Stage. Michelangelo 's Definition Of Art As The Purgation Of Superfluities Suggests That The Creative Effort Consists Largely In The Elimination Of That Which Complicates And Confuses A Pattern.
Art
Simplicity
Effort
Free Men Are Aware Of The Imperfection Inherent In Human Affairs, And They Are Willing To Fight And Die For That Which Is Not Perfect.
Fighting
Men
Perfect
Our Achievements Speak For Themselves. What We Have To Keep Track Of Are Our Failures, Discouragements And Doubts. We Tend To Forget The Past Difficulties, The Many False Starts, And The Painful Groping. We See Our Past Achievements As The End Results Of A Clean Forward Thrust, And Our Present Difficulties As Signs Of Decline And Decay.
Courage
Pain
Past
The Intellectuals And The Young, Booted And Spurred, Feel Themselves Born To Ride Us.
Power
Corruption
Born
It Is Part Of The Formidableness Of A Genuine Mass Movement That The Self-sacrifice It Promotes Includes Also A Sacrifice Of Some Of The Moral Sense, Which Cramps And Restrains Our Nature.
Sacrifice
Self
Movement
The Wise Learn From The Experience Of Others, And The Creative Know How To Make A Crumb Of Experience Go A Long Way.
Wise
Long
Creative
Our Originality Shows Itself Most Strikingly Not In What We Wholly Originate But In What We Do With That Which We Borrow From Others.
Originality
Shows
All Mass Movements Strive, Therefore, To Interpose A Fact-proof Screen Between The Faithful And The Realities Of The World. They Do This By Claiming That The Ultimate And Absolute Truth Is Already Embodied In Their Doctrine And That There Is No Truth Nor Certitude Outside It. The Facts On Which The True Believer Bases His Conclusions Must Not Be Derived From His Experience Or Observation But From Holy Writ.
Reality
Faithful
Doctrine
People In A Hurry Cannot Think, Cannot Grow, Nor Can They Decay. They Are Preserved In A State Of Perpetual Puerility.
Thinking
People
Decay
When We Debunk A Fanatical Faith Or Prejudice, We Do Not Strike At The Root Of Fanaticism. We Merely Prevent Its Leaking Out At A Certain Point, With The Likely Result That It Will Leak Out At Some Other Point.
Roots
Prejudice
Results
There Is A Radicalism In All Getting, And A Conservatism In All Keeping. Lovemaking Is Radical, While Marriage Is Conservative.
Marriage
Radicalism
Conservative
Faith In A Holy Cause Is To A Considerable Extent A Substitute For Lost Faith In Ourselves.
Faith
History
Literature
We Probably Have A Greater Love For Those We Support Than For Those Who Support Us. Our Vanity Carries More Weight Than Our Self-interest.
Vanity
Self
Support
Someone Who Thinks The World Is Always Cheating Him Is Right. He Is Missing That Wonderful Feeling Of Trust In Someone Or Something.
Trust
Cheating
Philosophy
Men Of Thought Seldom Work Well Together, Whereas Between Men Of Action There Is Usually An Easy Camaraderie.
Men
Together
Action
The Majority Prove Their Worth By Keeping Busy. A Busy Life Is The Nearest Thing To A Purposeful Life.
Majority
Life Is
Busy
The Craving To Change The World Is Perhaps A Reflection Of The Craving To Change Ourselves.
Reflection
World
Changing The World
Far More Crucial Than What We Know Or Do Not Know Is What We Do Not Want To Know.
Art
Philosophy
History
The Weakness Of A Soul Is Proportionate To The Number Of Truths That Must Be Kept From It.
Numbers
Soul
Weakness
The Hatred And Cruelty Which Have Their Source In Selfishness Are Ineffectual Things Compared With The Venom And Ruthlessness Born Of Selflessness.
Hatred
Selfishness
Ruthlessness
Resistance, Whether To One's Appetites Or To The Ways Of The World, Is A Chief Factor In The Shaping Of Character.
Character
World
Way
We Are More Ready To Try The Untried When What We Do Is Inconsequential. Hence The Remarkable Fact That Many Inventions Had Their Birth As Toys.
Education
Teaching
Playing Games
You Can Discover What Your Enemy Fears Most By Observing The Means He Uses To Frighten You.
Clever
Fear
Halloween
The Less Satisfaction We Derive From Being Ourselves, The Greater Is Our Desire To Be Like Others.
Desire
Satisfaction
Greater
When We Lose Our Individual Independence In The Corporateness Of A Mass Movement, We Find A New Freedom — Freedom To Hate, Bully, Lie, Torture, Murder And Betray Without Shame And Remorse.
Lying
Hate
Bully
The Renaissance Was A Time Of Mercenary Soldiers, Ours Is A Time Of Mercenary Labor.
Time
Soldier
Renaissance
I Could Never Figure Out Or Probably Did Not Take The Trouble To Figure Out What The Great Philosophical Problems Are About. The Momentous Statements I Come Across Are At Best A Storm In A Teacup. There Are Quite A Number Of People Who Have A Vested Interest In The Stuff, Make A Noble Living Out Of It, And They Conspire With One Another To Keep It Alive.
Philosophical
Numbers
People
Learners Inherit The Earth; While The Learned Find Themselves Beautifully Equipped To Deal With A World That No Longer Exists.
Inspirational
Life
Motivational
There Is Sublime Thieving In All Giving. Someone Gives Us All He Has And We Are His.
Giving
Sublime
Literature
The Purpose Of Philosophers Is To Show People What Is Right Under Their Noses.
People
Purpose
Noses
The Chief Difference Between Me And Others Is That I Have Plenty Of Time Not Only Because I Am Without A Multitude Of Responsibilities And Without Daily Tasks, Which Demand Attention: But Also Because I Am Basically Without Ambition. Neither The Present Nor The Future Has Claims On Me.
Ambition
Responsibility
Daily Tasks
The Genuine Artist Is As Much A Dissatisfied Person As The Revolutionary, Yet How Diametrically Opposed Are The Products Each Distills From His Dissatisfaction.
Art
Revolutionary
Genuine
Successful Action Tends To Become An End In Itself.
Success
Successful
Action
Man Was Nature's Mistake She Neglected To Finish Him And She Has Never Ceased Paying For Her Mistake.
Nature
Mistake
Men
Absolute Faith Corrupts As Absolutely As Absolute Power.
Inspirational
Faith
Atheist
It Is Often The Failure Who Is The Pioneer In New Lands, New Undertakings, And New Forms Of Expression.
Failure
Expression
Land
The Great Crimes Of The Twentieth Century Were Committed Not By Money-grubbing Capitalists But By Dedicated Idealists. Lenin, Stalin, And Hitler Were Contemptuous Of Money. The Passage From The Nineteenth To The Twentieth Century Has Been A Passage From Considerations Of Money To Considerations Of Power.
Communism
Crime
Consideration
Action Is Basically A Reaction Against Loss Of Balance - A Flailing Of The Arms To To Regain One's Balance. To Dispose A Soul To Action, We Must Upset Its Equilibrium.
Loss
Upset
Soul
The Weak Are Not A Noble Breed. Their Sublime Deeds Of Faith, Daring, And Self-sacrifice Usually Spring From Questionable Motives. The Weak Hate Not Wickedness But Weakness; And One Instance Of Their Hatred Of Weakness Is Hatred Of Self. All The Passionate Pursuits Of The Weak Are In Some Degree A Striving To Escape, Blur, Or Disguise An Unwanted Self. It Is A Striving Shot Through With Malice, Envy, Self-deception, And A Host Of Petty Impulses; Yet It Often Culminates In Superb Achievements.
Hate
Spring
Sacrifice
A Multitude Of Words Is Probably The Most Formidable Means Of Blurring And Obscuring Thought. There Is No Thought, However Momentous, That Cannot Be Expressed Lucidly In 200 Words.
Mean
Formidable
Multitudes
Perhaps A Modern Society Can Remain Stable Only By Eliminating Adolescence, By Giving Its Young, From The Age Of Ten, The Skills, Responsibilities, And Rewards Of Grownups, And Opportunities For Action In All Spheres Of Life. Adolescence Should Be A Time Of Useful Action, While Book Learning And Scholarship Should Be A Preoccupation Of Adults.
Life
Book
Learning
There Is No Reason Why The Profoundest Thoughts Should Not Make Easy And Exciting Reading. A Profound Thought Is An Exciting Thing As Exciting As A Detective's Deductions Or Hunches. The Simpler The Words In Which A Thought Is Expressed The More Stimulating Its Effect.
Reading
Profound
Detectives
In Every Passionate Pursuit, The Pursuit Counts More Than The Object Pursued.
Passionate
Pursuit
Objects
Whoever Originated The Cliche That Money Is The Root Of All Evil Knew Hardly Anything About The Nature Of Evil And Very Little About Human Beings.
Roots
Evil
Littles
What Monstrosities Would Walk The Streets Were Some People's Faces As Unfinished As Their Minds.
People
Mind
Faces
Our Achievements Speak For Themselves. What We Have To Keep Track Of Are Our Failures, Discouragements And Doubts.
Track
Achievement
Doubt
The Hardest Arithmetic To Master Is That Which Enables Us To Count Our Blessings.
Thank You
Thankful
Gratitude
We Can Never Really Be Prepared For That Which Is Wholly New. We Have To Adjust Ourselves, And Every Radical Adjustment Is A Crisis In Self-esteem: We Undergo A Test, We Have To Prove Ourselves. It Needs Subordinate Self-confidence To Face Drastic Change Without Inner Trembling.
Change
Confidence
Self Esteem
What Are We When We Are Alone? Some, When They Are Alone, Cease To Exist.
Cease
To Dispose A Soul To Action We Must Upset Its Equilibrium.
Justice
Diversity
Soul
The Truth Seems To Be That Propaganda On Its Own Cannot Force Its Way Into Unwilling Minds; Neither Can It Inculcate Something Wholly New; Nor Can It Keep People Persuaded Once They Have Ceased To Believe. It Penetrates Into Minds Already Open, And Rather Than Instill Opinion It Articulates And Justifies Opinions Already Present In The Minds Of Its Recipients.
Believe
People
Mind
A Soul That Is Reluctant To Share Does Not As A Rule Have Much Of Its Own. Miserliness Is Here A Symptom Of Meagerness.
Soul
Doe
Misery
It Is Easier To Love Humanity As A Whole Than To Love One's Neighbor. ... Some Of The Worst Tyrannies Of Our Day Genuinely Are "vowed" To The Service Of Mankind, Yet Can Function Only By Pitting Neighbor Against Neighbor. The All-seeing Eye Of A Totalitarian Regime Is Usually The Watchful Eye Of The Next-door Neighbor. In A Communist State Love Of Neighbor May Be Classed As Counter-revolutionary.
Eye
Doors
Humanity
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