One might equate growing up with a mistrust of words. A mature person trusts his eyes more than his ears. Irrationality often manifests itself in upholding the word against the evidence of the eyes. Children, savages and true believers remember far less what they have seen than what they have heard.
Interpretation
Growing up often leads to skepticism about words, favoring personal observation over hearsay.
In this quote, Eric Hoffer reflects on the maturity that comes with age, suggesting that as people grow older, they tend to trust what they see over what they are told. This skepticism about words signifies a deeper understanding of reality, where individuals learn that not all verbal communication aligns with truth, and that firsthand experience holds more value than secondhand information, particularly in stark contrast to the naïveté of children and the uncritical acceptance often seen in 'true believers'.
In practice
During a discussion on adulthood and maturity, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of personal experience over reliance on words.
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.
Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head, but if you lie down now and then and get still as you can, it will slide open like elevator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that have been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top. The real troubles in life happen when those hidden doors stay closed for too long.
I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities? Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them, and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser, and learned how to use them rightly.
Why worry? If you've done the very best you can, worrying won't make it any better
I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.
It is a sad thing when men have neither enough intelligence to speak well nor enough sense to hold their tongues; this is the root of all impertinence.
Sometimes a tree tells you more than can be read in books.
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