On Mass Movements — Quotes from The Asylum

Not only does a mass movement depict the present as mean and miserable—it deliberately makes it so. It fashions a pattern of individual existence that is dour, hard, repressive and dull. It decries pleasures and comforts and extols the rigorous life. It views ordinary enjoyment as trivial or even discreditable, and represents the pursuit of personal happiness as immoral. — Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

Transcription

Not only does a mass movement depict the present as mean and miserable—it deliberately makes it so. It fashions a pattern of individual existence that is dour, hard, repressive and dull. It decries pleasures and comforts and extols the rigorous life. It views ordinary enjoyment as trivial or even discreditable, and represents the pursuit of personal happiness as immoral.¹

— Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

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Notes

Hoffer, Eric, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, Time Reading Program Special Edition, Time Incorporated, New York, N.Y., 1963. p. 132.