Eric Hoffer Quotes

Anyone who thinks they're indispensible is fooling themselves.

I'm definitely attracted to the idea of people that have these big aspirations that the audience know might never happen, but they're lost in them.

It is true that [the] present-day young are idealistic. But theirs is the easy idealism that condemns abuses and pushes aside any thought that would reveal the difficulties and complexities inherent in righting wrongs. They are not willing to do the hard work by which alone the world can be improved. Hearing what they say, and seeing what they do, one suspects that one of the main functions of the young’s idealism is finding good reasons for doing bad things.

There is a danger in believing your own hype.

Perhaps I am doomed to retrace my steps under the illusion that I am exploring, doomed to try and learn what I should simply recognize, learning a mere fraction of what I have forgotten.

He who is infatuated with 'Man' leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook.

I believe that people start to get into trouble when they start to believe their own hype.

I learnt to stop fantasising about the perfect job or the perfect relationship because that can actually be an excuse for not living.

'Friends' started because Rachel left her husband at the altar. This likability factor is just so stupid to me. It's the same thing as 'wish-fulfillment,' which is a big word you hear in a lot of Hollywood rooms. It basically means that people want to see other people living a life they can't lead, and I don't buy that. I think that's not true.

Bonfire of the Vanities: The lesson of that book is, never start believing your own press.

He had delusions of adequacy.

He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow.

Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.

If you begin to think you're something you're not, you're looking in the wrong mirror.

Dreams are illusions, and we can't let go of them because we would be dead.

Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.

Celebrity gives us delusion of self importance.

When all else fails there's always delusion.

People of this world are deluded. They're always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking.

Illusions of grandeur are not the same as visions of greatness.

When you're young you believe it when people tell you how good you are. And that's the danger, you inhale. Everyone will tell you you're a genius, which you are not, and if you understand that, you win.

Imagination … which is ever wandering beyond the bounds of truth, joined to self-love and that self-confidence we are so apt to indulge, prompt us to draw conclusions that are not immediately derived from facts ...

A special representative of the ruler of each state shall be appointed for each university, with appropriate instructions and extended powers .... The function of this agent shall be to see to the strictest enforcement of existing laws and disciplinary regulations; to observe carefully the spirit which is shown by the instructors in the university in their public lectures and regular courses, and, without directly interfering in scientific matters or in the methods of teaching, to give a salutary direction to the instruction, having in view the future attitude of the students. Lastly, he shall devote unceasing attention to everything that may promote morality, good order, and outward propriety among the students.... The confederated governments mutually pledge themselves to remove from the universities or other public educational institutions all teachers who, by obvious deviation from their duty, or by exceeding the limits of their functions, or by the abuse of their legitimate influence over the youthful minds, or by propagating harmful doctrines hostile to public order or subversive of existing governmental institutions, shall have unmistakably proved their unfitness for the important office entrusted to them... .

Break not the will of the young, but guide it to right ends.

For people at the bottom who are really doing badly — those in the bottom 10th or 15th percentile — they think their work falls in the 60th or 55th percentile, so, above average. People at the bottom still think they're outperforming other people.