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.
The only power deserving the name is that of masses, and of governments while they make themselves the organ of the tendencies and instincts of masses.
I learnt all the words worthy of the court of blood So that I could break the rule I learnt all the words and broke them up To make a single word: Homeland.
We are a dreadful species indeed, and deserve whatever it is our techno-baubles do to us.
Human life is inherently creative. It's why we all have different résumés. … It's why human culture is so interesting and diverse and dynamic.
Liberty is to faction, what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be a less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.
It was then that she realized that the yellow butterflies preceded the appearances of Mauricio Babilonia.
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