Eric Hoffer Quotes

It occurred to me then that a lot of life was either about wanting and not having, or having and not wanting.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Well, I am happy, and I won't fret, but it does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.

We were all brought up to want things and maybe the world isn't big enough for all that wanting. I don't know. I don't know anything

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true.

Those who want nothing are apt to forget how many there are who want every thing.

Man wants but little here below Nor wants that little long, 'Tis not with me exactly so; But 'tis so in the song. My wants are many, and, if told, Would muster many a score; And were each wish a mint of gold, I still should long for more.

You never truly need what you want. That is the main and thoroughgoing key to serenity.

He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.

Our culture highlights the desire to always have more, even when we should be grateful for what we have.

Can people who hunger so desperately for what other people have ever have enough?

True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.

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.

Once one feels content about what one has, then humiliation does not arise. If one could never feel content, one would never even get what one wished to have.

It seems like a lot of people seek their peace in things. And most of us are not even satisfied with the things we have... we always want more.

The secret of contentment is never to allow yourself to want anything which reason tells you you haven't a chance of getting.

Be contented with whatsoever is; never ask for more. The moment you ask for more you have asked for hell. The moment you ask for more you have asked for misery. The desire for more creates misery.

Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?

The more objects you set your heart upon, the more thorns there are to tear your peace of mind to shreds.

A man's contentment is in his mind, not in the extent of his possessions. Alexander the Great, with all the world at his feet, cries for another world to conquer.

Not he who has little, but he whose wishes more, is poor.

Somehow I reached excess without ever noticing when I was passing through satisfaction.

You have nothing. One should never allow themselves to think that they have, one can just touch - to have is to lack appreciation, to touch is to want to touch again.

One interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, the irony is that even after obtaining the object of your desire you are still not satisfied. The true antidote of greed is contentment.