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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“A commander should have a profound understanding of human nature, the knack of smoothing out troubles, the power of winning affection while communicating energy, and the capacity for ruthless determination where require by circumstances. He needs to generate an electrifying current, and to keep a cool head in applying it.”

NeedsShouldHumansWinningEnergyUnderstandingTroubleHuman NatureCircumstancesCapacityDeterminationShould HaveProfoundAffectionCurrentsCommunicateCommandersRuthlessKnack
Author:B. H. Liddell Hart
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“The capacity of the mind is broad and huge, like the vast sky. Do not sit with a mind fixed on emptiness. If you do, you will fall into a neutral kind of emptiness. Emptiness includes the sun, moon, stars, and planets, the great earth, mountains and rivers, all trees and grasses, bad people and good people, bad things and good things, heaven and hell; they are all in the midst of emptiness. The emptiness of human nature is also like this.”

PeopleIfsMindHumansKindEarthFallHeavenStarsSunHellTreeSkyHuman NaturePlanetsHugeMoonMountainCapacityRiversGood ThingsGrassFixedEmptinessMidstBad ThingsBroadsGood PeopleBad PeopleHeaven And HellSun MoonStars And Planets
Book:The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch
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“In fact, the libertarian would reason that the fact that human nature is a mixture of both good and evil provides its own particular argument in his favor. For if man is such a mixture, then the best societal framework is surely one in which evil is discouraged and the good encouraged. The libertarian maintains that the existence of the State apparatus provides a ready, swift channel for the exercise of evil, since the rulers of the State are thereby legitimated and can wield compulsion in ways that no one else is permitted to do.”

IfsMenWayHumansStatesReasonFactsEvilExistenceHuman NatureParticularReadyExerciseArgumentLibertarianFavorsGood And EvilRulersMixturesDiscouragedFrameworkCompulsion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Before modern man can gain control over the forces that now threaten his very existence, he must resume possession of himself. This sets the chief mission for the city of the future: that of creating a visible regional and civic structure, designed to make man at home with his deeper self and his larger world, attached to images of human nature and love.”

MenWorldHumansSelfHomeForceCitiesExistenceModernHuman NatureCreatingGainsAnd LoveStructurePossessionDeeperMissionsChiefsVisibleCivicsResumesModern ManLove And Nature
Author:Lewis Mumford
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“The yearning after equality [in economic outcome] is the offspring of envy and covetousness, and there is no possible plan for satisfying that yearning which can do aught else than rob A to give to B; consequently all such plans nourish some of the meanest vices of human nature, waste capital, and overthrow civilization.”

GivingHumansCan DoPlansEconomicHuman NatureCivilizationWasteVicesEnvyOutcomesSatisfyingYearningOffspringCovetousness
Author:William Graham Sumner
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“Narration is as much a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood.... storytelling is intrinsic to biological time, which we cannot escape. Life, Pascal said, is like living in a prison from which every day fellow prisoners are taken away to be executed. We are all, like Scheherazade, under sentence of death, and we all think of our lives as narratives, with beginnings, middles and ends.”

ThinkingHumansSaidEndsTakenOur LivesBloodHuman NatureBreathsFellowsPrisonSentencesStorytellingNarrativePrisonerCirculationNarrationPascal
Author:A. S. Byatt
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“But the 20th century suffered "two" ideologies that led to genocides. The other one, Marxism, had no use for race, didn't believe in genes and denied that human nature was a meaningful concept. Clearly, it's not an emphasis on genes or evolution that is dangerous. It's the desire to remake humanity by coercive means (eugenics or social engineering) and the belief that humanity advances through a struggle in which superior groups (race or classes) triumph over inferior ones.”

BelieveHumansMeanTwoUseDesireHumanityBeliefSocialRaceClassStruggleGroupsCenturyDangerousHuman NatureEvolutionConceptsMeaningfulSuperiorsIdeologyTriumphGenocideDeniedGenesEngineeringInferiors20th CenturyEmphasisMarxismEugenicsRemakesSocial Engineering
Author:Steven Pinker
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“To will the obligatory in relation to death is to fall in line with the major immutable cycles of Nature, especially human nature, and to understand that (whether or not there is a purpose or meaning to life or a life of the spirit beyond the life of the body) no one, absolutely no one, escapes being finite and mortal. And knowing this, and then to accept it, to will it, and not to be in an unnecessary state of angst or rebellion or terror over it.”

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Author:Edwin S. Shneidman
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“...compartmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called 'practice' from insight; of imagination from executive 'doing.' Each of these activities is then assigned its own place in which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then suppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.”

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Author:John Dewey
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“If it be taught that all who are born have a right to support on the land, whatever be their number, and that there is no occasion to exercise any prudence in the affair of marriage so as to check this number, the temptations, according to all the known principles of human nature, will inevitably be yielded to, and more and more will gradually become dependent on parish assistance.”

IfsHumansBornNumbersKnownPrinciplesSupportLandHuman NatureTaughtExerciseAffairChecksTemptationOccasionsDependentAssistancePrudenceParish
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Or, A View of Its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; with an Inquiry Into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal Or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions
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“Biblical social scientists have an advantage because they know truths about human nature. Those who dismiss the Bible and create surveys that don't measure crucial factors are the ones who have closed minds. Sometimes the Bible gives us clear answers and sometimes it doesn't, but it always helps us to ask the right questions.”

KnowsGivingMindHumansSometimesHelpingAsksSocialAnswersClearHuman NatureAdvantageScientistFactorsCrucialBiblicalSurveysRight QuestionsClosed Mind
Author:Marvin Olasky
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“You might declare that global warming and energy insecurity, not to mention urban sprawl and pollution, have intensified the sin of indulging one's motoring desires. And I would not argue with that point. You're right. I am a bad man. But over the long term, if you want to develop a new transportation and energy policy, you'd probably want to err on the side of assuming that people won't change much. And it is human nature to like to be empowered.”

PeopleIfsMenWantHumansLongMightDesireEnergySidesTermSinHuman NaturePolicyAssumingArguingLong TermGlobal WarmingInsecurityPollutionUrbanEmpoweredTransportationBad ManEnergy PolicyUrban Sprawl
Author:Joel Achenbach
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“My only fear is doing something contrary to human nature - the wrong thing, the wrong way, or at the wrong time.”

WayHumansHuman NatureContraryWrong ThingsWrong WayWrong Time
Book:The Modern Library Collection of Greek and Roman Philosophy 3-Book Bundle: Meditations; Selected Dialogues of Plato; The Basic Works of Aristotle
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“...in the acquisition of this blessing human nature can find no better helper than Love. I declare that it is the duty of every man to honour Love, and I honour and practice the mysteries of Love in an especial degree myself, and recommend the same to others, and I praise the power and valour of Love to the best of my ability both now and always.”

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Author:Socrates
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“To ask for overt renunciation of a cherished doctrine is to expect too much of human nature. Men do not repudiate the doctrines and dogmas to which they have sworn their loyalty. Instead they rationalize, revise, and re-interpret them to meet new needs and new circumstances, all the while protesting that their heresy is the purest orthodoxy.”

MenNeedsHumansAsksToo MuchHuman NatureCircumstancesLoyaltyDoctrineDogmaHeresyOrthodoxyRenunciationRationalize
Author:J. William Fulbright
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“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

InspirationalHumansInspirationMotivationalSocialPrinciplesRelationshipHuman NatureSelf EsteemAcceptanceAppreciateAppreciationSelf AcceptanceLove YourselfApprovalAppreciatedThankfulCravingLoving YourselfLoving LifeGratitude And AppreciationAdministrativeSelf Esteem And ConfidenceFundraisingAppreciate YouExpress AppreciationMy Self WorthTeacher AppreciationJust Love YourselfAppreciation Of OthersLove And AppreciationRewards And RecognitionAdministrative Professionals DayAppreciation In RelationshipsRecognition And AppreciationSelf RecognitionAdministrative ProfessionalsFundraising For CharityBeing Appreciated
Author:William James
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