It is part of the formidableness of a genuine mass movement that the self-sacrifice it promotes includes also a sacrifice of some of the moral sense, which cramps and restrains our nature.
Interpretation
Genuine mass movements can inspire self-sacrifice but may also lead to a loss of moral sense.
In this quote, Eric Hoffer reflects on the complex nature of mass movements, suggesting that while they can galvanize individuals to make significant sacrifices for a cause, such fervor may come at the cost of losing one's moral compass. This phenomenon can both empower individuals to pursue greatness and simultaneously blind them to ethical considerations, highlighting the dual-edged sword of collective movements.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about political movements and their ethical implications.
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.
There is no slave but the creature that wills against its Creator.
It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr: "If they would only purr for 'yes,' and mew for 'no,; or any rule of that sort," she had said, "so that one could keep up a conversation! But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?
Without the way, there is no going; without the truth, there is no knowing; without the life, there is no living.
Can any man or woman choose duties? No more than they can choose their birthplace or their father and mother.
What would the daughters of the rich do with themselves if the poor ceased to exist?
The Tao is near and people seek it far away.
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