There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that bold actions often mask deeper feelings of guilt or self-deception.
Eric Hoffer's quote reflects the idea that those who display confidence or self-righteousness may actually be driven by an underlying guilt. It serves as a commentary on human behavior, indicating that outward bravado can often be a façade for inner moral conflict, revealing the complexities of the human psyche.
In practice
During a speech on moral integrity, one might invoke this quote to highlight the importance of sincerity.
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.
Only within yourself exists the other reality for which you long. I can give you nothing that has not already its being within yourself. I can throw open to you no picture gallery but your own soul.
A 'mistake' is beside the point, for once anything happens it authentically is.
We must cultivate a universal responsibility toward each other and extend it to the planet that we have to share
Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim and personal wealth; justice depends on commitment instead of circumstance. Faith-based charity provides crumbs from the table; faith-based justice offers a place at the table.
If I feel any marginalisation, it's because the things that concern me aren't so important to other people.
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