Eric Hoffer Quotes

To smile at the jest which plants a thorn in another's breast is to become a principal in the mischief.

The primate laugh is given in playful contexts, and as such has a strong similarity to the human laugh.

Sometimes, we just take too much glee in the downfall of people in power.

I was born with a priceless gift, the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.

O' who will walk with me along lifes merry way? A comrade blithe and full of glee, who dares to laugh out loud and free.

Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.

Madame....gloatingly savored her words as earlier she had savored her pig's trotter.

We were little animals, which is not to imply that by the end of the week we were tearing our tank tops off; just that, metaphorically speaking, we had begun to sniff each other's bottoms, and we did not find the odor entirely repellent.

Man is a social animal.

Laughter means: taking a mischievous delight in someone else's uneasiness, but with a good conscience.

Among animals, one has a sense of humor. Humor saves a few steps, it saves years.

Human beings are social animals. We were social before we were human.

She thought about how it was so simple with animals. They gave their hearts without question or fear. They had no expectations. They were so easy to love. If people could only be like that, no one would ever be hurt, she thought. No one would ever need to learn how to forgive.

The life of a wild animal always has a tragic end.

The perfect woman is a higher type of humanity than the perfect man, and also something much rarer. The natural history of animals furnishes grounds in support of this theory.

Silently the animal catches our glance. The animal looks at us, and whether we look away (from the animal, our plate, our concern, ourselves) or not, we are exposed. Whether we change our lives or do nothing, we have responded. To do nothing is to do something

Animals fascinate me because you can find a force, an energy, a fear that also exists in sex.

Why should a lobster be any more ridiculous than a dog? ... or a cat, or a gazelle, or a lion, or any other animal one chooses to take for a walk? I have a liking for lobsters. They are peaceful, serious creatures. ... Goethe had an aversion to dogs, and he wasn't mad. They know the secrets of the sea, they don't bark.

There's nothing better than a world where everybody's just trying to make each other laugh.

That's the problem with them fables, they're putting animals together that wouldn't meet. I don't know where a scorpion is knockin' around with a frog.

What a force is laughter.

Through the years I've learned to gain the trust of humans. I'm really good at gaining the trust of animals and I have developed the same ability with humans. I don't make people feel wrong, I just make people aware. I have learned to make people laugh.

You understand that the piggies are animals, and you no more condemn them for murdering Libo and Pipo than you condemn a cabra for shewing up capim." That's right," said Miro. Ender smiled. "And that's why you'll never learn anything from them. Because you think of them as animals.

The purpose of life is to stay alive. Watch any animal in nature--all it tries to do is stay alive. It doesn't care about beliefs or philosophy. Whenever any animal's behavior puts it out of touch with the realities of its existence, it becomes exinct.

Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics.... The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be considered in the same plane.