Eric Hoffer

Author profile

born

July 25, 1902 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, The United States

died

May 21, 1983

gender

male

genre

Philosophy, Politics, Social Sciences

influences

Michel de Montaigne

About this author

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Eric Hoffer was an American social writer and philosopher. He produced ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983 by President of the United States Ronald Reagan. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that his book The Ordeal of Change was his finest work. In 2001, the Eric Hoffer Award was established in his honor with permission granted by the Eric Hoffer Estate in 2005.

Early life

Hoffer was born in the Bronx, New York City in 1902 (or possibly 1898), the son of Knut and Elsa Hoffer, immigrants from Alsace. By the age of five, he could read in both German and English. When...more Eric Hoffer was an American social writer and philosopher. He produced ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983 by President of the United States Ronald Reagan. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that his book The Ordeal of Change was his finest work. In 2001, the Eric Hoffer Award was established in his honor with permission granted by the Eric Hoffer Estate in 2005.

Early life

Hoffer was born in the Bronx, New York City in 1902 (or possibly 1898), the son of Knut and Elsa Hoffer, immigrants from Alsace. By the age of five, he could read in both German and English. When he was age five, his mother fell down a flight of stairs with Eric in her arms. Hoffer went blind for unknown medical reasons two years later, but later in life he said he thought it might have been due to trauma. ("I lost my sight at the age of seven. Two years before, my mother and I fell down a flight of stairs. She did not recover and died in that second year after the fall.I lost my sight and for a time my memory"). After his mother's death he was raised by a live-in relative or servant, a German woman named Martha. His eyesight inexplicably returned when he was 15. Fearing he would again go blind, he seized upon the opportunity to read as much as he could for as long as he could. His eyesight remained, and Hoffer never abandoned his habit of voracious reading.

Hoffer was a young man when his father, a cabinetmaker, died. The cabinetmaker's union paid for the funeral and gave Hoffer a little over three hundred dollars. Sensing that warm Los Angeles was the best place for a poor man, Hoffer took a bus there in 1920. He spent the next 10 years on Los Angeles' skid row, reading, occasionally writing, and working odd jobs. On one such job, selling oranges door-to-door, he discovered he was a natural salesman and could easily make good money. Uncomfortable with this discovery, he quit after one day.

In 1931, he attempted suicide by drinking a solution of oxalic acid, but the attempt failed as he could not bring himself to swallow the poison. The experience gave him a new determination to live adventurously. It was then he left skid row and became a migrant worker. Following the harvests along the length of California, he collected library cards for each town near the fields where he worked and, living by preference, "between the books and the brothels." A seminal event for Hoffer occurred in the mountains where he had gone in search of gold. Snowed in for the winter, he read the Essays by Michel de Montaigne. Montaigne's book impressed Hoffer deeply, and he often made reference to its importance for him. He also developed a great respect for America's underclass, which, he declared, was "lumpy with talent."

Longshoreman

Hoffer was in San Francisco by 1941. He attempted to enlist in the Armed forces there in 1942 but was rejected because of a hernia. Wanting to contribute to the war effort, he found ample opportunity as a longshoreman on the docks of The Embarcadero. It was there he felt at home and finally settled down. He continued reading voraciously and soon began to write while earning a living loading and unloading ships. He continued this work until he retired at age 65.

Hoffer considered his best work to be The True Believer, a landmark explanation of fanaticism and mass movements. The Ordeal of Change is also a literary favorite. In 1970 he endowed the Lili Fabilli and Eric Hoffer Laconic Essay Prize for students, faculty, and staff at the University of California, Berkeley.

Hoffer was a charismatic individual and persuasive public speaker, but said that he didn’t really care about people. Despite authoring 10 books and a newspaper column, in retirement Hoffer continued his robust life of the mind, thinking and writing alone, in an apartmen(less)

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Books by Eric Hoffer

Average rating: 4.19 · 1,130 ratings · 199 reviews · 16 distinct works

	The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements 4.23 avg rating — 874 ratings — published 1951 — 16 editions	My rating:
	The Passionate State of Mind: And Other Aphorisms 4.20 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 2006 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Ordeal of Change 3.98 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 1967 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Reflections on the Human Condition 4.00 avg rating — 31 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Temper of Our Time 4.04 avg rating — 27 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Truth Imagined 4.04 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 1983 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Working and Thinking on the Waterfront 3.90 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 1969 — 2 editions	My rating:
	First Things, Last Things 3.69 avg rating — 16 ratings — published 1971 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Before the Sabbath 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 1979 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer 4.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1982	My rating:

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Quotes by Eric Hoffer

“Rudeness is the weak mans imitation of strength.”
― Eric Hoffer

tags: rudeness

85 people liked it

“Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.”
― Eric Hoffer

tags: disappointment

77 people liked it

“We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.”
― Eric Hoffer

tags: lies

72 people liked it

See all Eric Hoffer's quotes »

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Eric Hoffer

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Eric Hoffer

Quotes by Eric Hoffer

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Eric Hoffer