“We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building”

— Eric Hoffer , book The True Believer

Section 47
The True Believer (1951), Part Three: United Action and Self-Sacrifice
Context: Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience—the knowledge that our mighty deeds will come to the ears of our contemporaries or "of those that are to be." We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building up, by our heroic deeds, in the opinion and imagination of others.

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Eric Hoffer 240

American philosopher 1898–1983

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