We feel free when we escape — even if it be but from the frying pan into the fire.

Hoffer suggests that the subjective feeling of freedom often comes less from arriving at a good condition than from the mere act of leaving an oppressive or confining one. The relief of escape can be so powerful that it is mistaken for genuine liberation, even when the new situation is objectively worse (“from the frying pan into the fire”). The line fits Hoffer’s broader interest in mass movements and the psychology of discontent: people may embrace drastic change, revolutions, or new ideologies because movement itself feels emancipating. The quote cautions against equating change with improvement and urges a more sober evaluation of what we are escaping to, not only what we are escaping from.