The Psychological Power of Words

Eric Hoffer understood what made people fanatical and become possessed into mass movements. In 1963 he wrote:

“Words cannot move mountains, but they can move the multitude. Men are ready to fight and die for a word than anything else.

Words shape thoughts, stir feelings, and beget action; they kill and revive, corrupt and cure.

The “men of words” — priests, prophets, intellectuals- have played a more decisive role in history than military leaders, statesmen, and businessmen.

Words and magic are particularly crucial in time of crisis when old forms of life are in dissolution and man must grapple with the unknown.

Normal motives and incentives lose then their efficacy.

Man does not plunge into the unknown in search of the prosaic and matter-of-fact.

His soul has to be stretched by reaching out for the fabulous and unprecedented.”