Eric Hoffer: Self (page 2)

“We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem: we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves.”

Eric Hoffer

Ch. 1: "Drastic Change" http://books.google.com/books?id=7Y-NoJ8yNIkC&q=%22every+radical+adjustment+is+a+crisis+in+self-esteem%22&pg=PA3#v=onepage
The Ordeal of Change (1963)

“The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor.”

Eric Hoffer

Section 115
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

Fear , Feeling , Confidence , Freedom

“A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.”

Eric Hoffer

Section 68
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

Reality , Envy

“There is in even the most selfish passion a large element of self-abnegation. It is startling to realize that what we call extreme self-seeking is actually self-renunciation. The miser, health addict, glory chaser and their like are not far behind the selfless in the exercise of self-sacrifice.”

Eric Hoffer

Source: The Ordeal of Change (1963), Ch. 5: "The Readiness to Work"

Health , Exercises , Passion , Selfishness

“When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.”

Eric Hoffer book The True Believer

Section 13
The True Believer (1951), Part One: The Appeal of Mass Movements

Loyalty

“Every extreme attitude is a flight from the self.”

Eric Hoffer

Section 8
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

“Vehemence is the expression of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand on its own… Whether it our own meaningless self we are upholding, or some doctrine devoid of evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.”

Eric Hoffer

The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

Faith , Support , Effort