Eric Hoffer

Acho que ganhei o gosto pelos aforismos com os notebooks de Lazarus Long. Descobri hoje Eric Hoffer, e estou fascinado. Pela profundidade, pelo desprendimento, pela lucidez. Lembrou-me Fernando Pessoa, pela capacidade de nos obrigar a enfrentar o óbvio e ver o inesperado. Deixo aqui três citações, que talvez não que expliquem o fascínio, mas têm a ver com o espírito do blogue.

Simplicity
In products of the human mind, simplicity marks the end of a process of refining, while complexity marks a primitive stage. Michelangelo's definition of art as the purgation of superfluities suggests that the creative effort consists largely in the elimination of that which complicates and confuses a pattern. 1954

The scientific method
How rare it is to come accross a piece of writing that is unambiguous, unqualified, and also unblurred by understatements or subtelties, and yet at the same time urbane and tolerant. It is a vice of the scientific method when applied to human affairs that it fosters hemming and hawing and a scrupulousness that easily degenerates into obscurity and meaninglessness. 1960

Wordiness
A multitude of words is probably the most formidable means of blurring and obscuring thought. There is no thought, however momentous, that cannot be expressed lucidly in 200 words. 1954