Eric Hoffer Quotes

I have found there is no difficulty in inducing men to look after their own property.

Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so.

Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves.

The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he neglect the care of it? Well what if he neglect the care of his health or his estate, which would more nearly relate to the state. Will the magistrate make a law that he not be poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against their wills.

Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.

There are things one must do for oneself.

Whoever will be free must make himself free. Freedom is no fairy gift to fall into a man's lap. What is freedom? To have the will to be responsible for one's self.

The only thing I find interesting is self-interest.

I'm not a trust-fund child. I think my father's got a healthy work ethic, and therefore, I think it just came with the part. You've got to look after yourself.

I've learned that you have to take responsibility for yourself in this game and lead yourself through it.

I am responsible for me. I can kind of take care of what I need to do and should do what I like to do.

Our only responsibility is to live our own life and take care of our own children.

When you don't have anybody to take care of you, then you could go both ways: You could do whatever you want, or you could take charge and be your own parent.

You have to be concerned with yourself because if you're not on it all the time, nobody else is going to be.

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.

All I have to do is what's right for me.

Look out for Number One. If you don't, no one else will.

How true Daddy's words were when he said: all children must look after their own upbringing. Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.

A man's neighbors or his landlord may be much cleverer than himself, and not without an indirect interest in his prosperity, but for all that his interests will be better attended to in his own keeping than in theirs.

How should a man be capable of grooming his own horse, or of furbishing his own spear and helmet, if he allows himself to become unaccustomed to tending even his own person, which is his most treasured belonging?

Being independent isn't as flashy as a lot of people may think. It's a lot of hard work; its a lot of investing your own money. And to creatively time to make your day work - it's on you to make it work, and no one else.

I don't fight for anybody else besides myself and my family, so therefore I win.

I was out of the house at 16 by my own doing. It forced me to really grow up and take care of myself, and I learned a lot of things that your parents usually teach you, on my own.

Normally I'm the type who wouldn't bail on a responsibility unless dead on the side of the road, and I believe deeply in the importance of continuing to follow our own paths.