July 25: Eric Hoffer Quotes

Eric Hoffer, US writer and social philosopher, was born this day in 1902. Despite rising to fame as a writer, he worked as a longshoreman until retiring at 65. His books include The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements, Working And Thinking on The Waterfront; a journal, In Our Time and Before the Sabbath.

1. A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business.
2. We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
3. No one is truly literate who cannot read his own heart.
4. You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
5. The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
6. In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
7. Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
8. Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
9. Man was nature's mistake she neglected to finish him and she has never ceased paying for her mistake.
10. When people are bored it is primarily with themselves.