“Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden.”

— Eric Hoffer , book The True Believer

Section 26
The True Believer (1951), Part Two: The Potential Converts
Context: Unless a man has talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, "to be free from freedom." It was not sheer hypocrisy when the rank-and-file Nazis declared themselves not guilty of all the enormities they had committed. They considered themselves cheated and maligned when made to shoulder responsibility for obeying orders. Had they not joined the Nazi movement in order to be free from responsibility?

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Eric Hoffer 240

American philosopher 1898–1983

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