True Believer Quotes

• When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

  Eric Hoffer

  Sarcastic, Freedom, Sarcasm

  Passionate State of Mind (1955) p. 21

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• Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.

  Eric Hoffer

  Inspirational, Faith, Atheist

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The act of self-denial seems to confer on us the right to be harsh and merciless toward others.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self, Denial, Harsh

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

  Eric Hoffer

  Thank You, Thankful, Gratitude

  "Reflections on the Human Condition" by Eric Hoffer, (Section 172), 1973.

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• Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.

  Eric Hoffer

  Life, Hate, Giving

  Eric Hoffer (1951). “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”, New York : Harper

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• A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.

  Eric Hoffer

  Wall, Real, Self

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.

  Eric Hoffer

  Belief, Realizing, Believer

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• I've always been a true believer that if men had babies, nobody would be trying to tell them what they can and can't do with their bodies.

  Scott Ian

  Baby, Men, Trying

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• Everybody is a True Believer. Everybody has a little nugget they're convinced of that is the opposite of the nugget on the other side. And they're convinced it's fact.

  Jane Haddam

  Opposites, Nuggets, Littles

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• True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society.

  Eric Hoffer

  Loyalty, Individual, Believer

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.

  Eric Hoffer

  People, Society, Technique

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression.

  Eric Hoffer

  Winning, Generosity, Weakness

  Eric Hoffer (1963). “The Ordeal of Change”

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• Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.

  Eric Hoffer

  Work, Power, Weakness

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

  Eric Hoffer

  Religious, Atheist, Opposites

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• The true believer is rewarded in every thing, even in affliction.

  Abu Bakr

  Affliction, Believer, Caliphs

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• 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.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self Esteem, Humility, Vanity

  Eric Hoffer (2011). “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”, p.15, Harper Collins

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• The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breeds pride and arrogance.

  Eric Hoffer

  Religious, Humble, Pride

  ERIC HOFFER (1963). “THE TRUE BELIEVER”

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• 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.

  Eric Hoffer

  War, Men, People

  Eric Hoffer (2011). “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”, p.14, Harper Collins

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• A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding.

  Eric Hoffer

  Men, Mind, Snooping

  Eric Hoffer (2011). “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements”, p.14, Harper Collins

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• All mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. They do this by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. The facts on which the true believer bases his conclusions must not be derived from his experience or observation but from holy writ.

  Eric Hoffer

  Reality, Faithful, Doctrine

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• I'm a true believer in karma. You get what you give, whether it's bad or good.

  Sandra Bullock

  Life, Karma, Spiritual

  "Happiness Is a Choice". Book by Barry Neil Kaufman (p. 23), 1991.

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• No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Atheist, Law, Atheism

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• Instead of working so hard to prove the skeptics wrong, it makes a lot more sense to delight the true believers.
  They deserve it, after all, and they're the ones that are going to spread the word for you.

  Seth Godin

  Delight, Skeptic, Believer

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• Collective unity is not the result of the brotherly love of the faithful for each other. The loyalty of the true believer is to the whole the church, party, nation and not to his fellow true believer. True loyalty between individuals is possible only in a loose and relatively free society .

  Eric Hoffer

  Loyalty, Party, Faithful

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

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• In this life struggle, here I am among you fully cognizant that a true believer has no fear of what God has ordained for him. Those who are visited by fear live only for their present, under the illusion that the world began with them and will end with their departure.

  King Hussein I

  Struggle, Here I Am, Departure

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