...That genius is a rare exception (:) It's not true. Talent and genius have been wasted on enormous scale throughout our history; this is all I know for sure.
Interpretation
Genius is often underestimated and can go unrecognized throughout history, indicating the loss of valuable talent.
Eric Hoffer highlights that the societal perception of genius as a rare occurrence is misleading. He argues that throughout history, many talented individuals may have never had their abilities recognized or utilized, suggesting that the potential for greatness exists in many but is often left unexplored or unappreciated.
In practice
During a speech about the importance of nurturing talent, one might quote Hoffer to emphasize how society often overlooks gifted individuals.
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.
It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.
We live in an age that reads too much to be wise, and that thinks too much to be beautiful.
The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.
Faith is the yes of the heart.
Gratitude is a flower that blooms in noble souls.
One thing about flying that he never got used to was that no matter how awful the weather was on the ground, if you flew high enough you could always find the sun.
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