The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
Interpretation
The desire for freedom is a fundamental aspect of being human.
Eric Hoffer's quote emphasizes that the pursuit of freedom is a universal characteristic that defines human existence. It suggests that throughout history, the aspiration for liberty and autonomy has been a driving force behind human actions and progress, highlighting its importance in shaping our identity and society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about human rights to emphasize the importance of freedom.
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
I'm going to die one day. I know it's coming for me, too. I'll be a mountain, I'll be a stone on the beach. I'll be nourishment.
I tell the truth; listen everyone. Only those who have Loved, will realise the Lord
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
He who climbs above the cares of this world, and turns his face to his God, has found the sunny side of life.
The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.
The story of the redemption will not stand examination. That man should redeem himself from the sin of eating an apple by committing a murder on Jesus Christ, is the strangest system of religion ever set up.
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