Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.
Interpretation
Compassion distinguishes itself as a constant virtue in the midst of our internal struggles between good and evil.
In this quote, Eric Hoffer reflects on the complexity of human nature, where we often find ourselves torn between our good and evil impulses. Compassion, however, serves as a steady anchor that transcends these conflicting forces, suggesting that it provides a pure, unchanging quality that elevates our moral experiences and decisions.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of community service, this quote could emphasize the role of compassion in our lives.
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.
Life on a small farm might seem primitive, but by living such a life we become able to discover the Great Path. I believe that one who deeply respects his neighborhood and everyday world in which he lives will be shown the greatest of all worlds.
The frustrating part of being tagged 'controversial' is people go looking for trouble where there isn't any to look for.
He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all
There is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral world than we are apt to take notice of.
I believe there is complete equality between men and women. And I believe those passages in the New Testament, not by Jesus, but by Paul, that say women should not adorn themselves, they should always wear hats or color their hair in church - things like that - I think they are signs of the times and should not apply to modern-day life.
When my father started talking about strip mining in the Appalachia back in the '60s, I remember a conversation I had with him where he said, you know, this is the richest state in the country if you look at the resources and the land, but the poorest people after the state of Mississippi: the 49th poorest people in the country.
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