Eric Hoffer Quotes About Talent

Quotes about: Talent

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  We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.

  Eric Hoffer

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

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

• They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspiration or ability, or to misfortune, rather than to insufficient application. At the core of every true talent there is an awareness of the difficulties inherent in any achievement, and the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized. Thus talent is a species of vigor.

  Eric Hoffer

  Failure, Inspiration, Persistence

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

• Youth itself is a talent, a perishable talent.

  Eric Hoffer

  Time, Youth, Talent

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

• Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.

  Eric Hoffer

  Freedom, Men, Liberty

  Eric Hoffer (1980). “The True Believer”

• It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned.

  Eric Hoffer

  Running, Light, Perspective

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

• Universities are an example of organizations dominated wholly by intellectuals; yet, outside pure science, they have not been an optimal milieu for the unfolding of creative talents. In neither art, music, literature, technology and social theory, nor planning have the Universities figured as originators or as seedbeds of new talents and energies.

  Eric Hoffer

  Art, Technology, Organization

  "Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.

• The nature of a society is largely determined by the direction in which talent and ambition flow - by the tilt of the social landscape.

  Eric Hoffer

  Nature, Ambition, Tilt

  "The Temper of Our Time". Book by Eric Hoffer, p. 104, 1967.

• ...That genius is a rare exception (:) It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history; this is all I know for sure.

  Eric Hoffer

  Dark, Age, Genius

• 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 mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom."

  Eric Hoffer

  Responsibility, Men, Self

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

• 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 most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and must compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capacities and talents.

  Eric Hoffer

  Missing, Creative, Way

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

• It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.

  Eric Hoffer

  Children, Men, Literature

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

• The individual's most vital need is to prove his worth, and this usually means an insatiable hunger for action. For it is only the few who can acquire a sense of worth by developing and employing their capacities and talents. The majority prove their worth by keeping busy.

  Eric Hoffer

  Mean, Insatiable Hunger, Majority

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

• In an adequate social order, the untalented should be able to acquire a sense of usefulness and of growth without interfering with the development of talent around them

  Eric Hoffer

  Order, Growth, Development

  Eric Hoffer (1963). “The Ordeal of Change”

• It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self, Doubt, Poison

  "Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.

• Our doubts about ourselves cannot be banished except by working at that which is the one and only thing we know we ought to do. Other people's assertions cannot silence the howling dirge within us. It is our talents rusting unused within us that secrete the poison of self-doubt into our bloodstream.

  Eric Hoffer

  Self, People, Silence

  "Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.

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