Hoffer versus Rand

The following passage is from Eric Hoffer’s “Reflections on the Human Condition”, aphorism 166:

“It needs some intelligence to be truly selfish. The unintelligent can only be self-righteous.”

Thus he presciently described Ayn Rand! And this, mind you, from Hoffer, who’s a 3/4-wit; that is, for half of the time he’s a wit, and for the other half of the time he’s a half-wit.

My main complaint about Hoffer is that he is vehement in his contempt for intellectuals, but he himself is a prime intellectual. I suppose that’s one of the paradoxes that he revels in.

I too enjoy paradox – in fact it was Hoffer who introduced me to the fun of paradoxes – so I made a mathematical study of them. I  learned, to my dismay, that paradoxes only challenge reason; they do not defy it.  

Though gray areas exist, nonetheless black is not white. Hoffer forgot this disillusioning truth half of the time, and Rand forgot it all of the time.