Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Nature Quotes

Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

Related topics

MenPeopleIfsThinkingWorldMayWantWayKnowsHas BeensBelieveCharacterHuman BeingsMankindNeedsSelfInspirationalMeanWellsReasonDoeLawShouldTryingPersonsSeemsTwoDifferentGivingHumanityLongRealityLittlesPrinciplesUnderstandingFactsFeelsEvilKindWarMadeAnimalMindFirstsInterestLifeHeartLooksIdeasNaturalPassionDesirePoliticalSoulCommunitySidesVirtueArtCommonGovernmentMightRealSocialHappinessSpiritStudyActionAgeConditionsFeelingsFormIndividualSometimesWisdomWritingEndsExistenceFoundLanguagePleasureSpiritualViewsBornChangeDivineForceGivenIndividualityJusticeLiteratureQualityShowsWholeGreaterHateMatterMomentsPhilosophyPoliticsSciencemore

Human Nature Quotes

“The practical life of a vast number of people is not, as a matter of fact, worth while at all. It is like an impressive fur coat with no one inside it. One sees many of these coats occupying positions of great responsibility. Hans Andersen's story of the king with no clothes told one bitter and common truth about human nature; but the story of the clothes with no king describes a situation just as common and even more pitiable.”

PeopleHumansMatterFactsStoriesCommonNumbersResponsibilitySituationHuman NaturePositionKingsClothesPracticalsBitterRealismCoatsImpressiveFurMatter Of FactGreat ResponsibilityFur CoatsPractical Life
Book:Evelyn Underhill: Essential Writings
Create image

“These various habits of thought, or habitual expressions of life, are all phases of the single life sequence of the individual; therefore a habit formed in response to a given stimulus will necessarily affect the character of the response made to other stimuli. A modification of human nature at any one point is a modification of human nature as a whole.”

HumansMadeWholeCharacterIndividualGivenHuman NatureExpressionHabitResponseVariousPhasesSequenceStimulusHabitualSingle LifeModification
Book:BUSINESS & ECONOMICS Premium Collection: 25+ Titles in One Volume: The Theory of Business Enterprise, The Higher Learning in America, The Vested Interests and the Common Man, On the Nature of Capital…: The Theory of the Leisure Class, The Beginning of Ownership, The Preconceptions of Economic Science, The Industrial System and the Captains of Industry, The Socialist Economics of Karl Marx…
Create image

“The area between the nose and the chin, the subject of kissing and the vehicle for speech, is perhaps even more known and set upon than the eyes. The mouth is also riddled with a complex interweaving of folds, curves, flats and lost-and-found edges. These nuances are needed by a perceptive person who might try to understand human nature.”

TryingHumansPersonsMightEyeFoundLostKnownSubjectsHuman NatureNeededKissingSpeechMouthsAreasComplexesEdgesNosesFlatsVehicleCurvesFoldsChinsNuancePortraitureLost And Found
Author:Robert Genn
Create image

“Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.”

MenLoveHandsStarsSportsWaterChangeDestinyHuman NatureSucceedIdealsFollowingGuidesOptimisticDesertTouchingYou ChooseIdealismOur DestinyYour DestinyIdealistMy DestinyMasonsFate DestinyMasonicFate And DestinyLife DestinyLife And DestinyDestiny And ChoiceFuture Destiny
Book:Speeches, Correspondence and Political Papers of Carl Schurz
Create image

“A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad On Solitary Fields That Science cannot overtake But Human Nature feels. It waits upon the Lawn, It shows the furthest Tree Upon the furthest Slope you know It almost speaks to you. Then as Horizons step Or Noons report away Without the Formula of sound It passes and we stay - A quality of loss Affecting our Content As Trade had suddenly encroached Upon a Sacrament.”

KnowsFeelsYearsHumansShowsLightSpeakWaitingSoundLossQualityStepsTreeHuman NatureFieldsColorPeriodsSpringTradeReportsMarchHorizonFormulasSolitarySacramentsNoonLawnsSlopes
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Emily Dickinson (Illustrated)
Create image

“The theory of Reincarnation, which originated in India, has been welcomed in other countries. Without doubt, it is one of the most sensible and satisfying of all religions that mankind has conceived. This, like the others, comes from the best qualities of human nature, even if in this, as in the others, its adherents sometimes fail to carry out the principles in their lives.”

IfsHumansHas BeensCountrySometimesQualityPrinciplesDoubtFailingMankindHuman NatureTheoryIndiaSatisfyingSensibleOther CountriesReincarnationIncarnation
Author:Luther Burbank
Create image

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

IfsInspirationalDoeCharacterFaithHumanityHopeLosesVirtueSuccessfulMankindHuman NatureHonestyIntegrityOceanDirtyHave FaithHumankindSuccessful PeopleIncapableSuicidalHumanity And SocietyNon ViolenceSuccessful BusinessPeace And LoveGreat FaithHuman PersonalityOcean SeaOceans And SeasFaith In HumanityHuman CompassionPersonality TypesShared HumanityDirty MindsLosing FaithDrops In The OceanDirty SecretsBlue OceanDirty HandsHumanity And NatureDirty World
Book:The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi
Create image

“There exists a powerful energizing force in the spiritual life principle. All energy began with the Creator, who infused it not only in all natural processes, but also into that higher form of nature called human nature. The more closely, then, that a person identifies with the Creator, the more surely that person will experience within his or her own nature the process of re-creation which operates in all creation.”

HumansPersonsSpiritualFormEnergyForceProcessNaturalPowerfulPrinciplesHuman NatureCreationHigherCreatorOnenessSpiritual LifeEnergizing
Author:Norman Vincent Peale
Create image

“Nowhere does history indulge in repetitions so often or so uniformly as in Wall Street. When you read contemporary accounts of booms or panics, the one thing that strikes you most forcibly is how little either stock speculation or stock speculators today differ from yesterday. The game does not change and neither does human nature.”

HumansLittlesDoeTodayGamesOne ThingStreetsHuman NatureWallAccountsStrikesYesterdayContemporaryPanicRepetitionSpeculationIndulgeIndulge InSpeculators
Book:Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Create image

“The story of the Fall always fascinates me as a play ground, but I cannot find any profound meaning in it, because of my 'liberal' view of human nature: I cannot believe in a state of original innocence, still less in a profound meaning in it, and I am always minimising the conception and the extent of Sin and the sinfulness of sex.”

BelieveHumansStillsStatesPlayStoriesFallSexSinViewsHuman NatureOriginalsProfoundInnocenceConceptionSinfulness
Author:E. M. Forster
Create image

“To be enthusiastic about doing much with human nature is a foolish business indeed; and, throwing himself into his work as he was doing, and expecting so much from it, would not the tide ebb as strongly as it was flowing? It is a rash game this setting our hearts on any future beyond what we have our own selves control over. Things do not walk as we settle with ourselves they ought to walk, and to hope is almost the correlative of to be disappointed.”

HumansHeartSelfGamesWalksHuman NatureOughtFoolishSettingSettingsSettlingDisappointedThrowingExpectingTidesSelf ControlEnthusiastic
Book:The Nemesis of Faith
Create image

“People who think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic, among them influential political leaders and businessmen as well as go-getters and hustlers of smaller caliber, tend to take it for granted that human nature is selfish and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive. According to this philosophy, the basic law by which man must live, in spite of his surface veneer of civilization, is the law of the jungle. The "fittest" are those who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness.”

PeopleThinkingMenHumansWellsMayPhilosophyLawPoliticalLife IsForceLeaderStruggleHuman NatureCivilizationToughSurfaceSelfishSuperiorsGrantedSpiteRealisticBusinessmanJungleCunningInfluentialPolitical LeadersCaliberRuthlessnessVeneerLife Is A Struggle
Author:S. I. Hayakawa
Create image

“In the United States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility and of its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.”

MenWorldHumansSoulCountryStatesEarthChristianAmericaNationsFeltReligiousUnitedCommonUnited StatesGreaterInfluenceHuman NatureAuthorityProofHypocrisyEnlightenedConformitySovereignUtility
Book:Democracy in America: Book One
Create image

“It would take too long to explain the intimate alliance of contradictions in human nature which makes love itself wear at times the desperate shape of betrayal. And perhaps there is no possible explanation.”

HumansLongHuman NatureShapesBetrayalExplanationIntimateDesperateContradictionMaking LoveAlliances
Book:Under Western Eyes (Unabridged Deluxe Edition): An Intriguing Tale of Espionage and Betrayal in Czarist Russia From the Renowned Author of Heart of Darkness, Nostromo & The Secret Agent (Including Author’s Memoirs, Letters & Critical Essays)
Create image

“Analysis of rebellion leads at least to the suspicion that, contrary to the postulates of contemporary thought, a human nature does exist, as the Greeks believed. Why rebel if there is nothing permanent in oneself worth preserving? ... Rebellion, though apparently negative, since it creates nothing, is profoundly positive in that it reveals the part of man which must always be defended.”

IfsMenHumansDoeHuman NatureNegativeOneselfContrarySelf WorthContemporaryPermanentAnalysisGreekRebellionRebelSuspicion
Author:Albert Camus
Create image

“Running a multi-million dollar business can be frustrating at times, especially when someone does something I am not happy with. It might not even be their fault, but it is human nature to reach in an angry or heated way. However, I have learned an important and effective lesson. Rather than complain to my member of staff about their actions, I search my memory bank for things I find wonderful about them. This changes the energy around the issue instantly. People tend to live up to what you expect of them.”

PeopleWayHumansDoeImportantMightRunningActionEnergyMemoriesMillionsIssuesWonderfulHuman NatureLessonsMembersAngryDollarsFaultsComplainingI Have LearnedStaffFrustratingMillion DollarsNot Happy
Author:Vishen Lakhiani
Create image

“Straight away, remove yourself from the field of spiritual progression , stay away from contemplation and skillful discourse, do not do research or meditate on the divinities, and stop concentrating and reciting textbooks! Tell me, what is the absolute nature of reality which allows no room for doubt? Listen carefully! Stop holding on to this or that, inhabit your true absolute nature, and peacefully enjoy the essence of what it is to be alive!”

LifeWisdomRealitySpiritualFaithEnjoyRoomsDoubtMeditationAliveAwarenessHuman NatureFieldsInspirational LifeListeningMindfulnessMusicianResearchEssenceAbsolutesCarefulAwakeningBuddhistLive LifeContemplationDivinityRemoveAllowingSpiritual WisdomDiscourseStoppingLiving My LifeEnjoy LifeTheologianHolding OnProgressionSpiritual AwakeningTextbooksConcentratingSkillfulReciting
Author:Abhinavagupta
Create image

“I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.”

ThinkingMenWayMindHumansLittlesReasonFactsUseActionCausesSinSawsHuman NatureOptimismInstrumentsLiberalismTragicJustifySuperficialInclinationOur ActionsWay Of ThinkingDistortionRationalizePurifying
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
Create image

“I am not [...] asserting that humans are either genial or aggressive by inborn biological necessity. Obviously, both kindness and violence lie within the bounds of our nature because we perpetrate both, in spades. I only advance a structural claim that social stability rules nearly all the time and must be based on an overwhelmingly predominant (but tragically ignored) frequency of genial acts, and that geniality is therefore our usual and preferred response nearly all the time. [...] [T]he center of human nature is rooted in ten thousand ordinary acts of kindness that define our days.”

HumansLyingSocialKindnessViolenceHuman NatureThousandTenOrdinaryClaimsResponseBoundsStabilityAggressiveUsualRootedIgnoredFrequencyActs Of KindnessSpadesGeniality
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
Create image

“A religious creed differs from a scientific theory in claiming to embody eternal and absolutely certain truth, whereas science is always tentative, expecting that modification in its present theories will sooner or later be found necessary, and aware that its method is one which is logically incapable of arriving at a complete and final demonstration.”

HumansFormCertainFoundIndividualSocialReligiousHuman NatureAdventureTheoryAuthorityEternalMethodFinalsExpectingCreedsSooner Or LaterIncapableDemonstrationArrivingCohesionModificationScientific Theory
Author:Bertrand Russell
Create image

“Comedy is a game played to throw reflections upon social life, and it deals with human nature in the drawing-room of civilized men and women, where we have no dust of the struggling outer world, no mire, no violent crashes, to make the correctness of the representation convincing.”

MenWorldHumansGamesSocialRoomsDealsStruggleComedyHuman NatureReflectionMen And WomenDrawingViolentDustCivilizedCrashRepresentationConvincingSocial LifeCorrectnessOuter Worlds
Book:The Complete Works of George Meredith
Create image