Before the Sabbath Quotes

“Yet the need for justifying the wealth and power of great corporations in the eyes of the people has never been greater. Why not hark back to Florence, Venice, Antwerp and Amsterdam? The great corporations could devote wealth and energies to cleaning up, improving and adorning our cities. Each large corporation might adopt a city and vie with other corporations to see whose city shines brightest. In the center of each financial district there should be a large plaza in which periodically poets, singers, storytellers and artists of every sort would compete for rich prizes. The corporations should see it as their duty to spot and encourage talent, and celebrate greatness. There should be social intimacy between the powerful and the creative.”
― Eric Hoffer, Before the Sabbath

“To the Jews the age of 13 (the Sumerian unit of 12 plus 1) marks the threshold of adulthood. It is curious how significant multiples of 13 are in the individual’s life. At 2 x 13 the mind catches up with the body. 3 x 13 marks the beginning of a change of life. At 4 x 13 creative people catch their second breath. 5 x 13 is the age of retirement, and 6 x 13 most often marks the end of life.”
― Eric Hoffer, Before the Sabbath

“The nineteenth century was naive (February 23) because it did not know the end of the story. It did not know what happens when dedicated idealists come to power; it did not know the intimate linkage between idealists and policemen, between being your brother’s keeper and being his jailkeeper. It is disconcerting that present-day young who did not know Stalin and Hitler are displaying the old naïveté. After all that has happened they still do not know that you cannot build utopia without terror, and that before long terror is all that’s left.”
― Eric Hoffer, Before the Sabbath

“When we speak of authority at present we usually have in mind governmental authority. Actually, social order is most firm when imposed and maintained by the limited authorities of family, school, church, job, neighborhood and so on. In 1848 the Spaniard Donoso-Cortés predicted that “when religious discipline ceases to exist there cannot be enough of government; all despotisms will not be sufficient.” This holds true to some extent of the other minor authorities.”
― Eric Hoffer, Before the Sabbath