“Absolute power achieves uniqueness by dehumanizing others.”

—  Eric Hoffer

Journal entry (28 March 1959)
Working and Thinking on the Waterfront (1969)
Context: The significant point is that people unfit for freedom — who cannot do much with it — are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have" type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a "have-not" type of self. If Hitler had had the talents and the temperament of a genuine artist, if Stalin had had the capacity to become a first-rate theoretician, if Napoleon had had the makings of a great poet or philosopher they would hardly have developed the all-consuming lust for absolute power.
Freedom gives us a chance to realize our human and individual uniqueness. Absolute power can also bestow uniqueness: to have absolute power is to have the power to reduce all the people around us to puppets, robots, toys, or animals, and be the only man in sight. Absolute power achieves uniqueness by dehumanizing others.
To sum up: Those who lack the capacity to achieve much in an atmosphere of freedom will clamor for power.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Absolute power achieves uniqueness by dehumanizing others." by Eric Hoffer?
Eric Hoffer photo
Eric Hoffer 240
American philosopher 1898–1983

Related quotes

Eric Hoffer photo

“Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Section 13; often the final portion of this is quoted alone as: "Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power."
Reflections on the Human Condition (1973)
Context: The Savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.
There are similarities between absolute power and absolute faith: a demand for absolute obedience; a readiness to attempt the impossible; a bias for simple solutions — to cut the knot rather than unravel it; the viewing of compromise as surrender; the tendency to manipulate people and "experiment with blood."
Both absolute power and absolute faith are instruments of dehumanization. Hence absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.

“It was in Nazi Germany that Bolshevism was perfected; there, political power truly absorbed all spheres of existence, from the economy to religion, from technology to the soul. The irony, the tragedy, of history was that both totalitarian regimes, identical in their aim for absolute power over dehumanized beings, presented themselves as protection from the danger presented by the other.”

François Furet (1927–1997) French historian

Source: The Passing of an Illusion, The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century (1999), pp. 205-06

Paulo Freire photo

“The oppressor, who is himself dehumanized because he dehumanizes others, is unable to lead this struggle.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Pedagogia do oprimido (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) (1968, English trans. 1970)

Ian McEwan photo

“How can a novelist achieve atonement when with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also god?”

Ian McEwan book Atonement

Source: Atonement

Margaret Mead photo

“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Variant: Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.

Frederik Pohl photo

“That’s power, Mitch, absolute power. And you know the old saying. Power ennobles. Absolute power ennobles absolutely.”

Frederik Pohl book The Space Merchants

Source: The Space Merchants (1953), Chapter 4 (p. 44)

“Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Джон Эмерих Эдвард Дальберг-Актон (1834–1902)
Edward Bulwer-Lytton photo

“What men want is not talent, it is purpose,—in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.”

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873) English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician

Lucretia, Part II, Chapter XII
Context: The most useless creature that ever yawned at a club, or counted the vermin on his rags under the suns of Calabria, has no excuse for want of intellect. What men want is not talent, it is purpose,—in other words, not the power to achieve, but the will to labour.

“His rise to the status of Republican presidential candidate will stand as a unique historic achievement.”

Robert Fulford (journalist) (1932) Canadian journalist

Until Trump, no openly racist candidate in modern times has reached such a height in U.S. politics (August 5, 2016)

Related topics