Poems List

Émile Durkheim

Each victim of suicide gives

Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon.

154

Émile Durkheim

It is too great comfort

It is too great comfort which turns a man against himself. Life is most readily renounced at the time and among the classes where it is least harsh.

175

Sido L. Ridolfi

If you're in a bad

If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change.  If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change.

79

Émile Durkheim

There is no society known

There is no society known where a more or less developed criminality is not found under different forms. No people exists whose morality is not daily infringed upon. We must therefore call crime necessary and declare that it cannot be non-existent, that the fundamental conditions of social organization, as they are understood, logically imply it.

412

Eric Hoffer

A heresy can spring only

A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.

89

Eric Hoffer

With some people solitariness is

With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves.

62

Eric Hoffer

There is probably an element

There is probably an element of malice in the readiness to overestimate people; we are laying up for ourselves the pleasure of later cutting them down to size.

47

Eric Hoffer

The beginning of thought is

The beginning of thought is in disagreement -- not only with others but also with ourselves.

50

Eric Hoffer

The pleasure we derive from

The pleasure we derive from doing favors is partly in the feeling it gives us that we are not altogether worthless. It is a pleasant surprise to ourselves.

69

Eric Hoffer

Wise living consists perhaps less

Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.

54

Eric Hoffer

Disappointment is a sort of

Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy -- the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.

59

Eric Hoffer

The end comes when we

The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.

70

Eric Hoffer

The real persuaders are our

The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders.

99

Hosea Ballou

Exaggeration is a blood relation

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.

32

Hosea Ballou

Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it

Hatred is self-punishment. Hatred it the coward's revenge for being intimidated.

46

Hosea Ballou

Suspicion is far more to

Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.

33

Hosea Ballou

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth

Falsehood is cowardice, the truth courage.

37

Hosea Ballou

A single bad habit will

A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.

35

Hosea Ballou

Those who commit injustice bear

Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.

31

Hosea Ballou

Never let your zeal outrun

Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.

35

Hosea Ballou

Real happiness is cheap enough,

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

30

Hosea Ballou

Disease is the retribution of

Disease is the retribution of outraged Nature.

37

Hosea Ballou

Brevity and conciseness are the

Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction.

26

Ashna

family is all the wealth

family is all the wealth you have with you.

15