Freedom a Burden without Talents

"Unless a man has the talents to make something of himself, freedom is an irksome burden. Of what avail is freedom to choose if the self be ineffectual? We join a mass movement to escape individual responsibility, or, in the words of the ardent young Nazi, 'to be free from freedom'." (Eric Hoffer. The True Believer. 1951, 35)

"They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society. The frustrated, oppressed by their shortcomings, blame their falure on existing restraints. Actually their innermost desire is for an end to the 'free for all'. They want to eliminate free competition and the ruthless testing to which the individual is continually subjected in a free society." (Eric Hoffer. The True Believer. 1951, 31)

Eric Hoffer noted:

"The fiercest fanatics are often selfish people who were forced, by innate shortcomings or external circumstances, to lose faith in their own selves. They separate the excellent instrument of their selfishness from their ineffectual selves and attach it to the service of some holy cause. And though it be a faith of love and humility they adopt, they can be neither loving or humble." (Eric Hoffer. The True Believer. 1951, 51)

If it be a political or humanitarian cause they will rend everyone to attain the sacred, or self-sanctified end.