“It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor.”
Source: The Ordeal of Change (1963), Ch. 11: "Brotherhood"
Context: It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one's neighbor. There may even be a certain antagonism between love of humanity and love of neighbor; a low capacity for getting along with those near us often goes hand in hand with a high receptivity to the idea of the brotherhood of men. About a hundred years ago a Russian landowner by the name of Petrashevsky recorded a remarkable conclusion: "Finding nothing worthy of my attachment either among women or among men, I have vowed myself to the service of mankind." He became a follower of Fourier, and installed a phalanstery on his estate. The end of the experiment was sad, but what one might perhaps have expected: the peasants — Petrashevsky's neighbors-burned the phalanstery.
Some of the worst tyrannies of our day genuinely are "vowed" to the service of mankind, yet can function only by pitting neighbor against neighbor. The all-seeing eye of a totalitarian regime is usually the watchful eye of the next-door neighbor. In a Communist state love of neighbor may be classed as counter-revolutionary.
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Eric Hoffer 240
American philosopher 1898–1983Related quotes
“Those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than their neighbor.”
Source: Social Justice, To the Rich (c. 368), p. 43
“Byron says that it is easier to die for the woman one loves than to live with her.”
Un Art de Vivre (The Art of Living) (1939), The Art of Loving
“There are a hundred paths through the world that are easier than loving. But, who wants easier?”
Source: New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1
“It was always easier for me to love than to praise.”
Siempre me fue más fácil amar que elogiar.
Voces (1943)
“It is easier to mend neglect than to quicken love.”
Facilius enim neglegentia emendari potest quam amor nasci.
Letter 7
Letters
[2005, Stations of Wisdom, World Wisdom, 102, 978-0-94153218-1]
God, Reverential fear and love
“Ultimate audacity: to want to love a person—to say nothing of one's neighbor!—as God loves him.”
Source: Lumina and New Lumina (1969), p. 15
“Power, like love, is easier to experience than to define or measure.”
Source: Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (6th ed., 2006), Chapter 3, Balance of Power and World War I, p. 60.