Eric Hoffer Quotes About Atheism

Quotes about: Atheism

• 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

• 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

• 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

• To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.

  Eric Hoffer

  Atheist, Religion, Atheism

  Eric Hoffer (1955). “The passionate state of mind, and other aphorisms”

• The suspicious mind believes more than it doubts. It believes in a formidable and ineradicable evil lurking in every person.

  Eric Hoffer

  Believe, Evil, Doubt

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

• 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”

• The ignorant are a reservoir of daring. It almost seems that those who have yet to discover the known are particularly equipped for dealing with the unknown. The unlearned have often rushed in where the learned feared to tread, and it is the credulous who are tempted to attempt the impossible. They know not whither they are going, and give chance a chance.

  Eric Hoffer

  Giving, Ignorant, Atheism

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

• It was the craving to be a one and only people which impelled the ancient Hebrews to invent a one and only God whose one and only people they were to be.

  Eric Hoffer

  People, Being Positive, Atheism

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

• Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own. Whether it is our own meaningless self we are upholding, or some doctrine devoid of evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self, Expression, Support

  "The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms". Book by Eric Hoffer, 1955.

• There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses.

  Eric Hoffer

  Powerful, Responsibility, Hands

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

• All mass movements avail themselves of action as a means of unification. The conflicts a mass movement seeks and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium.

  Eric Hoffer

  Mean, Individuality, Enemy

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

• Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. We join a mass movement to escape from individual responsibility, or, in the words of an ardent young Nazi, to be free from freedom. It was not sheer hypocrisy when the rank-and-file Nazis declared themselves not guilty of all the enormities they had committed. They considered themselves cheated and maligned when made to shoulder responsibility for obeying orders. Had they not joined the Nazi movement in order to be free from responsibility?

  Eric Hoffer

  Responsibility, Men, Order

  "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements". Book by Eric Hoffer. Section 26, 1951.

• The atheist is a religious person. He believes in atheism as though it were a new religion. According to Renan, "The day after that on which the world should no longer believe in God, atheists would be the wretchedest of all men."

  Eric Hoffer

  Religious, Atheist, Believe

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

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