Source: Sociology For The South: Or The Failure Of A Free Society (1854), p. 179
“The elites are finally catching up with us. We can hear the swish of leather as saddles are heaved on our backs. The intellectuals and the young, booted and spurred, feel themselves born to ride us.”
Source: First Things, Last Things (1971), p. 65
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Eric Hoffer 240
American philosopher 1898–1983Related quotes
" Speech on the Scaffold http://www.bartleby.com/268/3/15.html", 1685
Letter to Roger C. Weightman http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/jefferson/jefferson.html, declining to attend July 4th ceremonies in Washington D.C. celebrating the 50th anniversary of Independence, because of his health. This was Jefferson's last letter http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/jefferson/jefferson.html. (24 June 1826)
1820s
Context: All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them.
The Philosophical Emperor, a Political Experiment, or, The Progress of a False Position: (1841)
Setzen wir Deutschland, so zu sagen, in den Sattel! Reiten wird es schon können.
Speech to Parliament of Confederation (1867)
1860s
“We can all be members of the intellectual elite”
"A Cult of Ignorance", Newsweek (21 January 1980)
General sources
Context: I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and can be surprisingly intellectual. I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning.
We can all be members of the intellectual elite and then, and only then, will a phrase like "America's right to know" and, indeed, any true concept of democracy, have any meaning.
Remarks at the launch of his book – At the Deep End http://www.zimeye.org/?p=41996&cpage=1
“Things are in the saddle,
And ride mankind.”
Ode, inscribed to W. H. Channing
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
2000s, God Bless America (2008), The American Proposition