Eric Hoffer Quotes about Originality

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Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

Our originality shows itself most strikingly not in what we wholly originate but in what we do with that which we borrow from others.

Eric Hoffer

Originality, Shows

Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other. Originality is deliberate and forced, and partakes of the nature of a protest. A society which gives unlimited freedom to the individual, more often than not attains a disconcerting sameness.

Eric Hoffer

People, Giving, Originality

'Passionate State of Mind' (1955) p. 21

To overestimate the originality of one's thoughts is perhaps a less serious defect than being unaware of their newness. There is a more pronounced lack of sensitivity in underestimating (ourselves and others) than in overestimating.

Eric Hoffer

Serious, Originality, Underestimate

"Eric Hoffer and the Art of the Notebook" by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine, July 2005.