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Top 500 Eric Hoffer Quotes (2026 Update)
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Eric Hoffer Quote: “The ratio between supervisory and producing personnel is always highest where the intellectuals are in power. In a Communist country it takes half the population to supervise the other half.”

401. “The ratio between supervisory and producing personnel is always highest where the intellectuals are in power. In a Communist country it takes half the population to supervise the other half.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.”

402. “There are no chaste minds. Minds copulate wherever they meet.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.”

403. “The less satisfaction we derive from being ourselves, the greater is our desire to be like others.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.”

404. “Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “A man’s soul is pierced as it were with holes, and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.”

405. “A man’s soul is pierced as it were with holes, and as his longings flow through each they are transmuted into something specific.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.”

406. “The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

407. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.”

408. “It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Words have ruined more souls than any devil’s agency.”

409. “Words have ruined more souls than any devil’s agency.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “A low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men.”

410. “A low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder.”

411. “Though dissenters seem to question everything in sight, they are actually bundles of dusty answers and never conceived a new question. What offends us most in the literature of dissent is the lack of hesitation and wonder.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.”

412. “That which corrodes the souls of the persecuted is the monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against them.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives.”

413. “Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.”

414. “People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

415. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.”

416. “A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense, and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth.”

417. “Crude absurdities, trivial nonsense, and sublime truths are equally potent in readying people for self-sacrifice if they are accepted as the sole, eternal truth.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

418. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it.”

419. “There is apparently no surer way of turning a thing into its opposite than by exaggerating it.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

420. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The trouble is not chiefly that our universities are unfit for students but that many present-day students are unfit for universities.”

421. “The trouble is not chiefly that our universities are unfit for students but that many present-day students are unfit for universities.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Totalitarianism spells simplification: an enormous reduction in the variety of aims, motives, interests, human types, and, above all, in the categories and units of power.”

422. “Totalitarianism spells simplification: an enormous reduction in the variety of aims, motives, interests, human types, and, above all, in the categories and units of power.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.”

423. “A movement is pioneered by men of words, materialized by fanatics and consolidated by men of action.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Faith is primarily a process of identification; the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal.”

424. “Faith is primarily a process of identification; the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.”

425. “They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “By circumstance and perhaps also by inclination, I think in complete intellectual isolation. To expect others to help me think seems to me almost like expecting them to help me digest my food.”

426. “By circumstance and perhaps also by inclination, I think in complete intellectual isolation. To expect others to help me think seems to me almost like expecting them to help me digest my food.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

427. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.”

428. “Take away hatred from some people, and you have men without faith.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.”

429. “The rule seems to be that those who find no difficulty in deceiving themselves are easily deceived by others. They are easily persuaded and led.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.”

430. “The most troublesome problem which confronts social engineering is how to provide for the untalented and, what is equally important, how to provide against them.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The indispensability of play-acting in the grim business of dying and killing is particularly evident in the case of armies. Their uniforms, flags, emblems, parades, music, and elaborate etiquette and ritual are designed to separate the soldier from his flesh-and-blood self and mask the overwhelming reality of life and death.”

431. “The indispensability of play-acting in the grim business of dying and killing is particularly evident in the case of armies. Their uniforms, flags, emblems, parades, music, and elaborate etiquette and ritual are designed to separate the soldier from his flesh-and-blood self and mask the overwhelming reality of life and death.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

432. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

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

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

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “To the creative individual all experience is seminal-all events are equidistant from new ideasand insights.”

434. “To the creative individual all experience is seminal-all events are equidistant from new ideasand insights.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.”

435. “To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “One cannot escape the impression that the intellectual’s most fundamental incompatibility is with the masses. He has managed to thrive in social orders dominated by kings, nobles, priests, and merchants, but not in societies suffused with the tastes and values of the masses.”

436. “One cannot escape the impression that the intellectual’s most fundamental incompatibility is with the masses. He has managed to thrive in social orders dominated by kings, nobles, priests, and merchants, but not in societies suffused with the tastes and values of the masses.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The pre-human creature from which man evolved was unlike any other living thing in its malicious viciousness toward its own kind. Humanization was not a leap forward but a groping toward survival.”

437. “The pre-human creature from which man evolved was unlike any other living thing in its malicious viciousness toward its own kind. Humanization was not a leap forward but a groping toward survival.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no guarantee of eventual success.”

438. “Every successful person has had failures but repeated failure is no guarantee of eventual success.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone.”

439. “You rarely find a nonconformist who goes it alone.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.”

440. “We can remember minutely and precisely only the things which never really happened to us.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events. The new barbarism of the twentieth century is the echo of words bandied about by brilliant speakers and writers in the second half of the nineteenth.”

441. “Quite often in history action has been the echo of words. An era of talk was followed by an era of events. The new barbarism of the twentieth century is the echo of words bandied about by brilliant speakers and writers in the second half of the nineteenth.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Resistance, whether to one’s appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.”

442. “Resistance, whether to one’s appetites or to the ways of the world, is a chief factor in the shaping of character.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Those who are in love with the present can be cruel and corrupt but not genuinely vicious. They cannot be methodically and consistently ruthless.”

443. “Those who are in love with the present can be cruel and corrupt but not genuinely vicious. They cannot be methodically and consistently ruthless.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors.”

444. “It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “Vaguely at first, then more distinctly, I realized that man is an eternal stranger on this planet.”

445. “Vaguely at first, then more distinctly, I realized that man is an eternal stranger on this planet.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world.”

446. “It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.”

447. “The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate.”

448. “The sense of inferiority inherent in the act of imitation breeds resentment. The impulse of the imitators is to overcome the model they imitate.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “A peculiar side of credulity is that it is often joined with a proneness to imposture. The association of believing and lying is not characteristic solely of children. They inability or unwillingness to see things as they are promotes both gullibility and charlatanism.”

449. “A peculiar side of credulity is that it is often joined with a proneness to imposture. The association of believing and lying is not characteristic solely of children. They inability or unwillingness to see things as they are promotes both gullibility and charlatanism.”

— Eric Hoffer

Eric Hoffer Quote: “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.”

450. “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.”

— Eric Hoffer

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