Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Freedom and equality compete as societal passions depending on which is scarce.
- In plain terms
- When people have freedom they want equality, and when they have equality they want freedom.
- What can you take from it?
- Scarcity drives what groups value most.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What does your society lack most right now?
- Do you value freedom or equality more?
Another view
It oversimplifies complex political ideologies into binary trade-offs.
More from Eric Hoffer
Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for freedom, it is but freedom to estab…
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Permalink to quote #19 Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a m…
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