There is in most passions a shrinking away from ourselves. The passionate pursuer has all the earmarks of a fugitive.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that intense passions can lead us to evade our true selves, resembling a fugitive escaping from reality.
Eric Hoffer's quote reflects on the nature of passion and how it can sometimes compel individuals to escape from their authentic selves. The passionate 'pursuer' is likened to a fugitive, indicating that when one becomes consumed by their desires or passions, they may lose sight of their true identity and values, ultimately leading to a conflict between their pursuits and their inner self.
In practice
This quote would be powerful in a speech about the dangers of losing oneself in obsessive pursuits.
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.
Being a doctor at Johns Hopkins does not make me any better in God's sight than the individual who has not had the opportunity to gain such an education but who still works hard.
I know nothing of this silence except that it lies outside the reach of my intelligence, beyond words - that is why this silence must win, must inevitably defeat me, because it is not a presence at all.
An independent state does not pay too dear a price for its independence in accepting the sufferings of war when it cannot avoid them; a state which has lost its independence may find at least some compensation in the fact that its protector procures for it peace with its neighbours.
Love of the republic in a democracy, is a love of the democracy; love of the democracy is that of equality. Love of the democracy is likewise that of frugality.
And, while it was regarded as pretty good evidence of criminality to be living in a slum, for some reason owning a whole street of them merely got you invited to the very best social occasions.
You cannot make a sinner into a saint by killing him. He who does not live as a saint here will never live as a saint hereafter.
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