Eric Hoffer Quotes
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.
Hoffer, Eric. The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Harper & Brothers, 1951, p. 79.
He works were banned and he was banished by both the North Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War where he tried to be a mediator and was present at the Paris Peace Talks. As late as 2007 he was still not allowed into Vietnam.
Schopenhauer had no major objection to allegories used by religions or ideologies to communicate their ideas. However, he objected vehemently when the same groups claimed literal truth. Thus, the religions and ideologies that he opposed were only the fundamentalists or the claimers to literal truth.
Eric Hoffer was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change was his finest work.
