It is the individual alone who is timeless. The individual's hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained unchanged throughout the millennia.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Individual human experiences like hunger and fear stay the same across history even as societies change.
- In plain terms
- Human desires and worries have not changed over time.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize that human nature remains constant despite historical progress.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What has changed most about human experience?
- Are core fears universal?
Another view
This view may overlook how culture shapes specific expressions of these hungers.
More from Eric Hoffer
It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense which cram…
Permalink to quote #176 Lack of sensitivity is perhaps basically an unawareness of ourselves.
Permalink to quote #178 It is not at all simple to understand the simple.
Permalink to quote #175
Related quotes
There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country…
Willa CatherWilla Cather quote #16 And ever since the Conquest have been fools.
John, 2nd Earl of Rochester WilmotJohn, 2nd Earl of Rochester Wilmot quote #31 It is the individual only who is timeless. Societies, cultures, and civilizations - past and present - are often incomprehensible to outsiders, but the individ…
Eric HofferEric Hoffer quote #115