Eric Hoffer Quotes

The oppressed have no alternative—for they have no power—but to fight.

Every revolution, bloody or not, has two phases. The first phase is defined by the struggle for freedom, the second by the struggle for power and revenge on the votaries of the ancien regime.

Fear and Hope — those are the names of the two great passions which rule the race of man, and with which revolutionists have to deal; to give hope to the many oppressed and fear to the few oppressors

Revolution is engendered by an indignation with tyranny, yet is itself pregnant with tyranny

The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.

No dictator, no invader, can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand…. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free.

If the oppressor uses peaceful means, the oppressed will never resort to violence. But if the oppressor uses violence, then the oppressed have no other alternative than violence—to retaliate with similar forms.

It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others.

Aristocracy is always cruel.

Five or six hundred heads cut off would have assured your repose, freedom and happiness.

Look at the forces against me. They don't want me out. They're afraid I'll cause trouble if I get out.

What was taken by force, can only be restored by force.

Who Rebels? Who rises in arms? Rarely the slave, but almost always the oppressor turned slave.

Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who have a comfortable relationship with power and those who have a naturally adversarial relationship with power.

History teaches us to beware of the excitation of the liberated and the injustices that often accompany their righteous thirst for justice.

Some people are by nature slaves and will always be so.

Progress is always relative: to the oppressed, it can only be viewed as an all or nothing deal - if oppression continues, even in a modified form, then the system must still be attacked until that injustice is eradicated.

I fear that, tired of anarchy, you may hope at the end for a return of oppression and that you may welcome the yoke of the first fortunate adventurer who shows up, who, far from consolidating your destiny, will only prolong your servitude

Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority!

the Distress of our oppressed Country, which now unjustly feels the baneful Effects of arbitrary Power.

Systematic recourse to violence put forward as the necessary path to liberation has to be condemned as a destructive illusion and one that opens the way to new forms of servitude. One must condemn with equal vigor violence exercised by the powerful against the poor, arbitrary action by the police, and any form of violence established as a system of government.

There is no middle course between the throne and the scaffold.

Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stand up and protest.

Throughout the history of mankind there have been murderers and tyrants; and while it may seem momentarily that they have the upper hand, they have always fallen. Always.

Mexicans!... It would appear that justice had fled from this world, leaving you to the caprice of your oppressors, who have become each day more furious toward you.... My part is taken, the voice of revelation whispers ... that the Lord will enable me, with powerful arm, to fight against our enemies.