Eric Hoffer Quotes

Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.

Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company.

Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.

By removing that which is petty and self-seeking, we bring forth all that is glorious and mindful of the whole.

Pride is handsome, economical; pride eradicates so many vices, letting none subsist but itself, that it seems as if it were a great gain to exchange vanity for pride.

Our practice should be based on the ideal of selflessness. Selflessness is very difficult to understand. If you try to be selfless, that is already a selfish idea. Selflessness will be there when you do not try anything.

The burning conviction that we have a holy duty towards others is often a way of attaching our drowning selves to a passing raft. What looks like a giving hand is often a holding on for dear life. Take away our holy duties and you leave our lives puny and meaningless. There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

I am better off doing as abnegation taught me: turning away from myself, projecting always outward, and hoping that in whatever is next, I will be better than I am now.

Any man who does not see everything in terms of self, that is to say who wants to be something in respect of other men, to do good to them or simply give them something to do, is unhappy, disconsolate, and accursed.

When you say you are in love with humanity, you are well satisfied with yourself.

At my funeral, if one said, 'Nick was a generous person,' trust me I won't be doing cartwheels in my coffin. Recognition from people is never and never will be a goal. Some people strive for that respect or honor. Living a life to just reach for the position and status is vanity and sin.

When boasting ends, there dignity begins.

From compassion springs humility. The ego is verily a gateway to hell. The person who is egoistic is far from being religious.

It's very nice to be in a show where your vanity is completely out of the picture.

You'd be surprised how addicting high self-esteem is.

Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit; few people are modest enough not to take offense that one appreciates them.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

When you have a lot of success you don't need vanity any more.

I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good.

Pride is a thing that I have tried to abandon completely. Try as I might, pride still creeps into many of the things I do.

Pride, which inspires us with so much envy, is sometimes of use toward the moderating of it too.

People should just get over themselves.

I have zero ego.

Vanity is not important to me.

Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do. No sooner do we perform a good action than we begin to desire credit for it. No sooner do we give money to some charity than we want to see our names blazoned in the papers. Misery must come as the result of such desires.