The Passionate State of Mind Quotes

“Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day; we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“The beginning of thought is in disagreement - not only with others but also with ourselves.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Those who would sacrifice a generation to realize an ideal are the enemies of mankind.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“We acquire a sense of worth either by realizing our talents, or by keeping busy, or by identifying ourselves with something apart from us--be it a cause, a leader, a group, possessions and the like. Of the three, the path of self-realization is the most difficult. It is taken only when other avenues to a sense of worth are more or less blocked. Men of talent have to be encouraged and goaded to engage in creative work. Their groans and laments echo through the ages. Action is a highroad to self-confidence and esteem.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“It has been often said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“There is even in the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that we call extreme self-seeking is actually self-renunciation. The miser, health addict, glory chaser and their like are not far behind in the exercise of self-sacrifice. Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Our preoccupation with other people - whether we aid or hinder them, love or hate them - is at bottom a means of getting away from ourselves. It is strange to contemplate that competition with others - the breathless race to get ahead of others - is basically a running away from ourselves”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“We have more faith in what we imitate than in what we originate. We cannot derive a sense of absolute certitude from anything which has its roots in us. The most poignant sense of insecurity comes from standing alone; we are not alone when we imitate.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“The passionate state of mind is often indicative of a lack of skill, talent or power. Moreover, passionate intensity can serve as a substitute for the confidence born of proficiency and the possession of power. A workingman sure of his skill goes leisurely about his job, and accomplishes much though he works as if at play. On the other hand, the workingman who is without confidence attacks his work as if he were saving the world, and he must do so if he is to get anything done. The same is true of the soldier. A well-trained and well-equipped soldier will fight well even when not sitrred by strong feeling. But the untrained soldier will give a good account of himself only when animated by enthusiasm and fervor.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Some people are born to spend their lives catching up; and they are as a rule the passionate ones.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“The patriotic fervor of a population is not always in direct proportion to its well-being and the fair dealing of its government. Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect. Hence the paradox that when government policies or historical accidents make the attainment and maintenance of individual self-respect difficult, the nationalist spirit of the people becomes more ardent and extreme. The unattainability of individual self-respect is not the least factor behind the chauvinism of the populace in Fascist and Communist regimes.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Lack of self-awareness renders us transparent. A soul that knows itself is opaque; like Adam after he ate from the tree of knowledge it uses words as fig leaves to cover its nakedness and shame.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“When we are conscious of our worthlessness, we naturally expect others to be finer and better than we are. If then we discover any similarity between them and us, we see it as irrefutable evidence of their worthlessness and inferiority. It is thus that with some people familiarity breeds contempt.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“Of all the ways of filling one's life and of creating the illusion of purpose and worth, none seems so effective as the voluntary subjugation to a set of duties. The satisfaction derived from the daily performance of duties is so unalloyed that the inclination is strong to pile duty upon duty and revel in their performance.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“For all that we know, the wholly harmonious individual might be without the impulse to push on, and without the compulsion to strive for perfection in any department of life. There is always a chance that the perfect society might be a stagnant society.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms

“An easygoing person is probably more accessible to a realization of eternity—the endless flow of life and death—than one who takes his prospects and duties overseriously. It is the overserious who are truly frivolous.”
― Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms