Today's Autodidact - Eric Hoffer
Today's AutoDidact
Dr. Eric Hoffer (1898 or 1902 - 1983)
A longshoreman, blue collared intellectual and philosopher, who captured the attention of audiences through his powerful writings.
Eric Hoffer, who received an honorary doctorate degree from two educational institutions in 1971, had humble beginnings, and could not further his early education due to personal challenges and hardships.
An individual who was credited to have self-taught himself an entire gamut of areas gained prominence after being in the doldrums of wilderness and hardship for several decades with his aphoristic philosophical, non-concocted and terse writings extracted from his bibliophile nature further complemented by experiential and observational learnings.
Eric Hoffer who had a Dickensian story of his own on his early upbringings drew attention for his intellectual and poignant writings from the state and leaders from around the globe who could understand the depth of his writing.
What is this Dickensian story?
Eric Hoffer's quest for reading and learning goes with an interesting personal story. As per his presentation, the liking for reading came from his loss of eyesight at the age of seven after almost a fatal fall that not only took away his eyesight after two years of this happening but also took away his mother from him.
To everyone's surprise and beyond explanation, Mr Hoffer got back his eyesight at the age of fifteen pushing him to make the most of his regained eyesight. He was always worried whether he would lose his sight again making him a voracious reader for the rest of his life.
Why did he not go to school?
His joy of miraculously getting back his vision was short-lived when Mr.Hoffer also lost his intellectual and wise father at a young age leaving him all by himself in this world. After this loss, he had to go through various hardships even going to the extent of attempting to commit suicide. Finally, he settled down with the role of a dockworker, while expanding his writing skills on diverse areas of topics through his daily writings. His appetite for reading, and the daily exercise to write down his thoughts on a notebook gradually enhanced his ability to think and write at depths that started drawing attention not only from his peers but also from the state.
When Mr Hoffer had his last breath in 1983, he not only published several successful books on diverse topics, but his almost 75 feet of daily writings were taken note of, and later added to the Hoover Institution Archives.
Notable Quotes:
"Rudeness is the weak imitation of strength"
"In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with the world that no longer exists"
"Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature"
The quote that I like the most:
People who bite the hand that feeds them; usually, lick the foot that kicks them
This quote in combination with two other strong quotes capture intrinsic human traits in entirety -
"Familiarity breeds contempt; Proximity dilutes value"
"Don't cast your pearls before swine - Kazhudaikku theriyuma Karpoora Vaasanai"
Dr. Eric Hoffer (1898 or 1902 - 1983)
A longshoreman, blue collared intellectual and philosopher, who captured the attention of audiences through his powerful writings.
Eric Hoffer, who received an honorary doctorate degree from two educational institutions in 1971, had humble beginnings, and could not further his early education due to personal challenges and hardships.
An individual who was credited to have self-taught himself an entire gamut of areas gained prominence after being in the doldrums of wilderness and hardship for several decades with his aphoristic philosophical, non-concocted and terse writings extracted from his bibliophile nature further complemented by experiential and observational learnings.
Eric Hoffer who had a Dickensian story of his own on his early upbringings drew attention for his intellectual and poignant writings from the state and leaders from around the globe who could understand the depth of his writing.
What is this Dickensian story?
Eric Hoffer's quest for reading and learning goes with an interesting personal story. As per his presentation, the liking for reading came from his loss of eyesight at the age of seven after almost a fatal fall that not only took away his eyesight after two years of this happening but also took away his mother from him.
To everyone's surprise and beyond explanation, Mr Hoffer got back his eyesight at the age of fifteen pushing him to make the most of his regained eyesight. He was always worried whether he would lose his sight again making him a voracious reader for the rest of his life.
Why did he not go to school?
His joy of miraculously getting back his vision was short-lived when Mr.Hoffer also lost his intellectual and wise father at a young age leaving him all by himself in this world. After this loss, he had to go through various hardships even going to the extent of attempting to commit suicide. Finally, he settled down with the role of a dockworker, while expanding his writing skills on diverse areas of topics through his daily writings. His appetite for reading, and the daily exercise to write down his thoughts on a notebook gradually enhanced his ability to think and write at depths that started drawing attention not only from his peers but also from the state.
When Mr Hoffer had his last breath in 1983, he not only published several successful books on diverse topics, but his almost 75 feet of daily writings were taken note of, and later added to the Hoover Institution Archives.
Notable Quotes:
"Rudeness is the weak imitation of strength"
"In times of change, learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with the world that no longer exists"
"Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature"
The quote that I like the most:
People who bite the hand that feeds them; usually, lick the foot that kicks them
This quote in combination with two other strong quotes capture intrinsic human traits in entirety -
"Familiarity breeds contempt; Proximity dilutes value"
"Don't cast your pearls before swine - Kazhudaikku theriyuma Karpoora Vaasanai"
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Autodidact: Dr. Eric Hoffer
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