Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands. (Quote by - H.l. Mencken)

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. (Quote by - Francis Bacon)

There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. (Quote by - Anthelme Brillat-savarin)

The seeds of great discoveries are constantly floating around, but they only take root in minds well prepared to receive them. (Quote by - Joseph Henry)

It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

Passionate intensity may serve as a substitute for confidence. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

The burning of an author's books, imprisonment for opinion's sake, has always been the tribute that an ignorant age pays to the genius of its time. (Quote by - Joseph Allen)

We have no assurance that half-truth will make us free. (Quote by - Roger J. Williams)

Certes, they been lye to hounds, for an hound when he cometh by the roses, or by other bushes, though he may nat pisse, yet wole he heve up his leg and make a countenance to pisse. (Quote by - Geoffrey Chaucer)

Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit. (Quote by - Henry Adams)

There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life. Moreover, when we have an alibi for not writing a book, painting a picture, and so on, we have an alibi for not writing the greatest book and not painting the greatest picture. Small wonder that the effort expended and the punishment endured in obtaining a good alibi often exceed the effort and grief requisite for the attainment of a most marked achievement. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

When the Greeks said, Whom the gods love die young, they probably meant, as Lord Sankey suggested, that those favored by the gods stay young till the day they die; young and playful. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity for happiness. (Quote by - H.l. Mencken)

Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly. (Quote by - Democritus)

The largely objective character of beauty is further indicated by the fact that to a considerable extent beauty is the expression of health. A well and harmoniously developed body, tense muscles, an elastic and finely toned skin, bright eyes, grace and animation of carriage- all these things which are essential to beauty are the conditions of health. (Quote by - Havelock Ellis)

Always behave like a duck- keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath. (Quote by - Jacob Braude)

Every fairly intelligent person is aware that the price of respectability is a muffled soul bent on the trivial and the mediocre. (Quote by - Walter Lippmann)

It is very good for a man to talk about what he does not understand; as long as he understands that he does not understand it. (Quote by - Gilbert Keith Chesterton)

It is by becoming increasingly complex that the self might be said to grow. (Quote by - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)

Human reason can neither predict nor deliberately shape its own future. Its advances consist in finding out where it has been wrong. (Quote by - F.a. Hayek)

The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is that the surrendering and humbling of the self breeds pride and arrogance. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

Unlike the pattern which seems to prevail in the rest of life, in the human species the weak not only survive but often triumph over the strong. The self-hatred inherent in the weak unlocks energies far more formidable then those mobilized by an ordinary struggle for existence. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes.Children, savages, and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)

The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)