Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Nature Quotes

Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

Related topics

MenPeopleIfsThinkingWorldMayWantWayKnowsHas BeensBelieveCharacterHuman BeingsMankindNeedsSelfInspirationalMeanWellsReasonDoeLawShouldTryingPersonsSeemsTwoDifferentGivingHumanityLongRealityLittlesPrinciplesUnderstandingFactsFeelsEvilKindWarMadeAnimalMindFirstsInterestLifeHeartLooksIdeasNaturalPassionDesirePoliticalSoulCommunitySidesVirtueArtCommonGovernmentMightRealSocialHappinessSpiritStudyActionAgeConditionsFeelingsFormIndividualSometimesWisdomWritingEndsExistenceFoundLanguagePleasureSpiritualViewsBornChangeDivineForceGivenIndividualityJusticeLiteratureQualityShowsWholeGreaterHateMatterMomentsPhilosophyPoliticsSciencemore

Human Nature Quotes

“We like to think there is this core of human nature – that good people can't do bad things, and that good people will dominate over bad situations. Infact, when we look at the Stanford prison studies, that we put good people in an evil place, and we saw who won. Well, the sad message in this, is in this case is the evil place won over the good people.”

PeopleThinkingHumansWellsLooksEvilSituationCasesStudySawsHuman NatureMessagesPrisonCoreBad ThingsGood PeopleStanfordBad Situations
Author:Philip Zimbardo
Create image

“I was a stray acquaintance whom he had never seem before and would never see again, a wandered for a moment through his monotonous life, and some starved impulse left him to lay bare his soul. I have in this way learned more about men in a night than I could if I had known them for 10 years. If you are interested in human nature, it is one of the greatest pleasures of travel.”

IfsMenWayLifeYearsHumansSoulMomentsSeemsNightLeftPleasureKnownHuman NatureLaysImpulseAcquaintanceMonotonousGreatest PleasuresMonotonous Life
Author:W. Somerset Maugham
Create image

“The essence of Christianity is the appeal to the life of Christ as a revelation of the nature of God and of God's agency in the world. The record is fragmentary, inconsistent, and uncertain. . . . But there can be no doubt as to what elements in the record have evoked a response from all that is best in human nature. The Mother, the Child, and the bare manger: the lowly man, homeless and self-forgetful, with his message of peace, love, and sympathy: the suffering, the agony, the tender words as life ebbed, the final despair: and the whole with the authority of supreme victory.”

MenWorldLifeHumansChildrenSelfWholeMotherSufferingPeaceChristChristianityDoubtRecordsHuman NatureVictoryDespairAuthorityElementsMessagesEssenceResponseFinalsSupremeAppealsAgencyNo DoubtRevelationsAgonyUncertainHomelessInconsistentForgetfulPeace Love
Author:Alfred North Whitehead
Create image

“At this day . . . the earth sustains on her bosom many monster minds, minds which are not afraid to employ the seed of Deity deposited in human nature as a means of suppressing the name of God. Can anything be more detestable than this madness in man, who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul, makes his excellence in this respect a pretext for denying that there is a God? He will not say that chance has made him different from the brutes; . . . but, substituting Nature as the architect of the universe, he suppresses the name of God.”

MenMindHumansMeanMadeDifferentSoulBodyEarthUniverseNamesChanceHuman NatureFindingsHundredMadnessExcellenceSeedsMonstersThis DayArchitectNot AfraidDeitiesBrutesBosomsPretextSuppressingFinding God
Book:The Institutes Of The Christian Religion, Books First and Second
Create image

“And as this is the obvious appearance of things, it must be admitted, till some hypothesis be discovered, which by penetrating deeper into human nature, may prove the former affections to be nothing but modifications of the latter. All attempts of this kind have hitherto proved fruitless, and seem to have proceeded entirely from that love of simplicity which has been the source of much false reasoning in philosophy.”

HumansKindMayHas BeensPhilosophySeemsHuman NatureSourceWords Of WisdomProveSimplicityAffectionObviousAppearanceDeeperFormerReasoningLatterHypothesisModification
Book:Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects
Create image

“To regard such a positive mental science [psychology] as rising above the sphere of history, and establishing the permanent and unchanging laws of human nature, is therefore possible only to a person who mistakes the transient conditions of a certain historical age for the permanent conditions of human life.”

HumansPersonsAgeLawCertainMistakePsychologyConditionsHuman NatureRegardHistoricalPermanentHuman LifeRisingSpheresRise AboveTransientUnchanging
Author:Robin G. Collingwood
Create image

“For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.”

NeedsHumansUnderstandingStruggleRichPsychologyTalentHuman NatureFieldsVictoryChessOpponentsSubtleSuperiorityIntuitiveIndebtedCapablanca
Author:Alexander Alekhine
Create image

“I doubt if anyone of any tenderness or imagination can see the hand of a child and not be a little frightened of it. It is awful to think of the essential human energy moving so tiny a thing; it is like imagining that human nature could live in the wing of a butterfly or the leaf of a tree. When we look upon lives so human and yet so small... We feel the same kind of obligation to these creatures that a deity might feel...”

IfsThinkingFeelsHumansLooksKindChildrenLittlesHandsMightMovingEnergyImaginationDoubtTreeHuman NatureCreaturesEssentialsCatholicWingsTinyObligationAwfulLook UpFrightenedButterflyTendernessLeafs
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
Create image

“The process of writing can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. Writing demands self-knowledge; it forces the writer to become a student of human nature, to pay attention to his experience, to understand the nature of experience itself. By delving into raw experience and distilling it into a work of art, the writer is engaging in the heart and soul of philosophy - making sense out of life.”

LifeWritingHumansHeartArtSoulSelfPhilosophyForceProcessPowerfulPayAttentionHuman NatureStudentsDemandDiscoveryToolsExperienceSelf DiscoveryPay AttentionMake SenseWorks Of ArtSelf KnowledgeEngagingHeart And SoulDelving
Author:Georg Buhler
Create image

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.”

KnowsLifeHumansHuman NatureGardenTragedyRoseLive LifeTragicPresent MomentHorizonProcrastinationLive In The MomentHere And NowLive In The PresentPast And PresentTime OffPast PresentPast Present And FutureBloomingPast Present FutureSocial AnxietyAchieved SuccessLiving In The PastStop ProcrastinationLive In The NowPresent FutureFuture And PresentNew HorizonsRose GardenOne Life To LiveDeep MeaningRose PetalsInspirational FutureMagic Of LifeBeautiful RoseKeep PositivePutting Things Off
Book:How to stop worrying & start living
Create image

“Modern education is premised strongly on materialistic values. It is vital that when educating our children's brains that we do not neglect to educate their hearts, a key element of which has to be the nurturing of our compassionate nature.”

InspirationalHeartChildrenWisdomValuesBrainEducationCompassionTeachingModernChildhoodHuman NatureBuddhismKeysWise WordsWords Of WisdomElementsEmpathyOur ChildrenBuddhistMaterialismNeglectSympathyCompassionateEducateNurtureMonkRaising ChildrenNurturingWise Man Once SaidMaterialisticTibetanTeaching ChildrenModern Education
Author:Dalai Lama
Create image

“The Tantric way is open to all the richness of human nature, which it accepts without a single restriction. It is probably the only spiritual path that excludes nothing and no one, and, in this way, it corresponds to the deep aspirations of men and women today.”

MenWayHumansTodaySpiritualAcceptingPathHuman NatureMen And WomenAspirationRestrictionRichnessSpiritual Path
Book:Tantric Quest: An Encounter with Absolute Love
Create image

“Human nature being what it is, peace must inevitably be a relative condition. The essence of life is struggle and competition, and to that extent perfect peace is an almost meaningless abstraction. Struggle and competition are stimulating, but when they degenerate into conflict it is usually both destructive and disruptive. The aim of political institutions like the United Nations is to draw the line between struggle and conflict and to make it possible for nations to stay on the right side of that line.”

HumansPoliticalLife IsNationsSidesLinesPerfectUnitedStruggleConditionsHuman NatureConflictDrawsEssenceAimInstitutionsCompetitionDestructiveRelativeMeaninglessAbstractionUnited NationsDegeneratesDisruptiveEssence Of LifePolitical InstitutionsUnescoLife Is A StrugglePerfect Peace
Author:Javier Perez de Cuellar
Create image

“The price of these failures has been a loss of moral consensus, a greater sense of helplessness about the human condition. ... The intellectual solution to the first dilemma can be achieved by a deeper and more courageous examination of human nature that combines the findings of biology with those of the social sciences.”

FirstsHumansHas BeensScienceSocialLossMoralGreaterConditionsHuman NatureFindingsIntellectualSolutionsDeeperBiologyCourageousHuman ConditionConsensusExaminationDilemmaHelplessnessSocial Science
Author:E. O. Wilson
Create image

“Repeal the Missouri Compromise - repeal all compromises - repeal the Declaration of Independence - repeal all past history, you still can not repeal human nature. It still will be the abundance of man's heart, that slavery extension is wrong; and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will continue to speak.”

MenHumansHeartStillsPastSpeakChangeHuman NatureMouthsIndependenceSlaveryCompromiseAbundanceCan NotDeclarationExtensionsDeclaration Of IndependenceMissouri
Author:Abraham Lincoln
Create image

“It must be stressed that there is nothing insulting about looking at people as animals. We are animals, after all. Homo sapiens is a species of primate, a biological phenomenon dominated by biological rules, like any other species. Human nature is no more than one particular kind of animal nature. Agreed, the human species is an extraordinary animal; but all other species are also extraordinary animals, each in their own way, and the scientific man-watcher can bring many fresh insights to the study of human affairs if he can retain this basic attitude of evolutionary humility.”

PeopleIfsMenWayHumansKindAnimalAttitudeStudyHuman NatureHumilityParticularSpeciesExtraordinaryAffairInsightPhenomenonStressedInsultingHomo SapiensHuman SpeciesWatchersPrimates
Book:Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior
Create image

“People prefer to be with people like themselves. For all the celebration of "diversity," it's sameness that dominates. Most people favor friendships with those who share similar backgrounds, interests and values. It makes for more shared experiences, easier conversations and more comfortable silences. Despite many exceptions, the urge is nearly universal. It's human nature.”

PeopleHumansValuesInterestSilenceHuman NatureEasierConversationComfortableDiversityUniversalFavorsBackgroundsDespiteExceptionUrgesCelebrationSamenessShared Experiences
Author:Robert J. Samuelson
Create image

“Real life is about accepting ups and downs, the good and the bad, the possibility of failure as well as the ambition to succeed. Atheism speaks to the truth about our human nature because it recognizes all this and does not seek to shield us from the truth by myth and superstition”

HumansWellsDoeRealLife IsSpeakAcceptingAtheismHuman NaturePossibilitySucceedAmbitionMythReal LifeSuperstitionsShieldsUps & Downs
Book:Atheism: A Very Short Introduction
Create image

“Christ is of two natures, the human and the divine, and we are the same: we are of the human nature, but covered with the divine. He is the God-man, and we are the God-men. He is the ark made of wood covered with gold, and we are the boards made of wood covered with gold. In number we are different, but in nature we are exactly the same.”

MenHumansMadeTwoDifferentChristNumbersHuman NatureDivineGoldWoodsBoardsCoveredArk
Book:The All-Inclusive Christ
Create image