Quote #21
We can be absolutely certain only about things we do not understand. A doctrine that is understood is shorn of its strength.
More from Eric Hoffer
- It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. What we know as blind faith is sustained by innumerable …
- The urge to escape our real self is also an urge to escape the rational and the obvious. The refusal to see ourselves as we are develops a …
- Failure in the management of practical affairs seems to be a qualification for success in the management of public affairs.
- 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.
- Where freedom is real, equality is the passion of the masses. Where equality is real, freedom is the passion of a small minority.
- Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without belief in a devil.
- 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 …
- Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us.