Quote #189

Religion and nationalism, as well as any custom and any belief however absurd and degrading, if it only connects the individual with others, are refuges from what man most dreads: isolation.

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

More from Eric Hoffer

  1. Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.
  2. Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, …
  3. People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
  4. Spiritual stagnation ensues when man's environment becomes unpredictable or when his inner life is made wholly predictable.
  5. Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart.
  6. Take man's most fantastic invention - God. Man invents God in the image of his longings, in the image of what he wants to be, then proceeds…
  7. Our quarrel with the world is an echo of the endless quarrel proceeding within us.
  8. The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.

All Eric Hoffer quotes