The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
Interpretation
The desire for freedom is a fundamental aspect of being human.
Eric Hoffer's quote emphasizes that the pursuit of freedom is a universal characteristic that defines human existence. It suggests that throughout history, the aspiration for liberty and autonomy has been a driving force behind human actions and progress, highlighting its importance in shaping our identity and society.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about human rights to emphasize the importance of freedom.
Language was invented to ask questions. Answers may be given by grunts and gestures, but questions must be spoken. Humanness came of age when man asked the first question. Social stagnation results not from a lack of answers but from the absence of the impulse to ask questions.
Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one's religion, nation, race, party or family-what is it but the visualization of that eternal something to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated?
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.
Our credulity is greatest concerning the things we know least about.
Perhaps a modern society can remain stable only by eliminating adolescence, by giving its young, from the age of ten, the skills, responsibilities, and rewards of grownups, and opportunities for action in all spheres of life. Adolescence should be a time of useful action, while book learning and scholarship should be a preoccupation of adults.
As for solitude, I cannot understand how certain people seek to lay claim to intellectual stature, nobility of soul and strength of character, yet have not the slightest feeling for seclusion; for solitude, I maintain, when joined with a quiet contemplation of nature, a serene and conscious faith in creation and the Creator, and a few vexations from outside is the only school for a mind of lofty endowment.
We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed! What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired?
A man in a desert can hold absence in his cupped hands, knowing it is something that feeds him more than water.
After I am dead, I would rather have men ask why Cato has no monument than why he had one.
The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.
Now I confess myself as belonging to that class in the country who contemplate slavery as a moral, social and political evil.
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