“But the instinct of hoarding, like all other instincts, tends to become hypertrophied and perverted; and with the institution of private property comes another institution-that of plunder and brigandage. In private life, no motive of action is at present so powerful and so persistent as acquisitiveness, which unlike most other desires, knows no satiety. The average man is rich enough when he has a little more than he has got, and not till then.” KnowsMenLittlesEnoughActionDesirePowerfulRichInstitutionsPropertyInstinctAverageMotiveConsumerismPersistentPrivate LifePrivate PropertyOverconsumptionPlunderAverage ManHoardingSatiety Book:Outspoken essays Source: Outspoken essays
“To-day the whole Christian world prostrates itself in adoration around the crib of Bethlehem and rehearses in accents of love a history which precedes all time and will endure throughout eternity. As if by an instinct of our higher, spiritual nature, there well up from the depths of our hearts, emotions which challenge the power of human expression. We seem to be lifted out of the sphere of natural endeavor to put on a new life and to stretch forward in desire to a blessedness which, though not palpable, is eminently real.” IfsWorldHumansWellsHeartRealWholeSeemsChristianSpiritualDesireNaturalChallengesEmotionExpressionHigherEternityInstinctDepthEndureChristmasAll TimeEndeavorSpheresAccentsNew LifeAdorationBlessednessBethlehemSpiritual Nature Author:James Gibbons
“One of the fundamental demonstrations of our natural instinct to Bond with each other is a will to give. Rather than domination, our most basic urge is to reach out to another human being, even at a cost to ourselves. Giving to others-the urge to empathize, to be compassionate, and to help others altruistically-is not the exception to the rule, but our natural state of being. Our impulse to connect with each other has developed an automatic desire to do for others, even at personal cost. Altruism comes naturally to us. It is selfishness that is culturally conditioned and a sign of pathology.” InspirationalGivingHumansStatesHelpingDesireNaturalHuman BeingsCostFundamentalsInstinctHelping OthersSelfishnessImpulseExceptionUrgesCompassionateReach OutAltruismDominationDemonstrationPathologyGiving To OthersNatural InstinctSelf GivingException To The Rule Author:Lynne McTaggart
“Men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition, by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude, wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden, and to desire what is denied us.” MenWellsLongActionDesireTurnsBornCompanyBreakVirtueHonestHonorInstinctVicesNobleShakesHonourDeniedVirtuousDispositionForbiddenConstraintsSpursServitudeNature Of ManSubjection Author:Francois Rabelais
“The people who've done well within the [Hollywood] system are the people whose instincts, whose desires [are in natural alignement with those of the producers] - who want to make the kind of movies that producers want to produce. People who don't succeed - people who've had long, bad times; like [Jean] Renoir, for example, who I think was the best director, ever - are the people who didn't want to make the kind of pictures that producers want to make. Producers didn't want to make a Renoir picture, even if it was a success.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantWellsKindLongDoneDesireNaturalExampleProduceSucceedDirectorsHollywoodInstinctProducersBad TimesRenoir Author:Orson Welles
“When wisdom reaches the acme of perfection, it will suppress the vicious instincts and injurious desires.” DesirePerfectionInstinctVicious Author:Ali ibn Abi Talib
“Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he That every man in arms should wish to be? It is the generous spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought: Whose high endeavors are an inward light That makes the path before him always bright: Who, with a natural instinct to discern What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn; And in himself posses his own desire” MenShouldRealLightHappinessSpiritDesireWishNaturalPathPlansArmsTasksInstinctEvery ManReal LifeWarriorGenerousEndeavorInwardDiligentPosseNatural InstinctBoyishGenerous Spirit Author:William Wordsworth
“To be faithful to your instincts and the impulses that carry you in the direction of the excellence you most desire and value ... surely that is to lead the noble life.” DesireValuesExcellenceInstinctNobleImpulseFaithfulBeing Faithful Book:Selected letters of George Edward Woodberry Source: Selected letters of George Edward Woodberry