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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“And in that hour, The seeds of cruelty, that since have swell'd To such gigantic and enormous growth, Were sown in human nature's fruitful soil. Hence date the persecution and the pain That man inflicts on all inferior kinds, Regardless of their plaints.”

MenHumansKindPainGrowthHoursAnimalHuman NatureCreaturesSeedsEnormousCrueltySoilInferiorsPersecution
Book:The poetical works of William Cowper: Complete ed., with memoir, explanatory notes etc
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“Thus society is born, as something required by nature, and (because this nature is human nature) as something accomplished through a work of reason and will, and freely consented to. Man is a political animal, which means that the human person craves political life, communal life, not only with regard to the family community, but with regard to the civil community.”

MenHumansMeanPersonsReasonPoliticalBornCommunityAnimalHuman NatureRegardAccomplishedCravePolitical LifePolitical Animals
Author:Jacques Maritain
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“The fact of our deriving constant pleasure from whatever is a type or semblance of divine attributes, and from nothing but that which is so, is the most glorious of all that can be demonstrated of human nature; it not only sets a great gulf of specific separation between us and the lower animals, but it seems a promise of a communion ultimately deep, close, and conscious, with the Being whose darkened manifestations we here feebly and unthinkingly delight in.”

HumansFactsSeemsPleasureAnimalHuman NatureDivineTypePromiseConsciousConstantDelightSeparationManifestationGloriousAttributesCommunionSemblance
Book:Modern Painters: (pt.3) Of ideas of beauty
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“All are agreed that the various moral qualities are in a sense bestowed by nature: we are just, and capable of temperance, and brave, and possessed of the other virtues from the moment of our birth. But nevertheless we expect to find that true goodness is something different, and that the virtues in the true sense come to belong to us in another way. For even children and wild animals possess the natural dispositions, yet without Intelligence these may manifestly be harmful.”

WayMayChildrenDifferentMomentsNaturalAnimalQualityMoralVirtueHuman NatureBirthGoodnessCapableBraveVariousPossessedNeverthelessDispositionAnother WayTemperanceWild Animal
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“When we reflect upon the cruelties daily practised upon such of the animal creation as are given us for food, or which we ensnarefor our diversion, we shall be obliged to own that there is more of the savage in human nature than we are aware of.”

HumansGivenAnimalHuman NatureCreationCrueltySavagesObligedDiversion
Book:A collection of the moral and instructive sentiments, maxims, cautions, and reflexions, contained in the histories of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison: Digested under proper heads, with references to the volume, ...
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“Without any extraordinary effort of genius, I have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can no more suppose, that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or vegetables were better than they are now.”

MenYearsHumansWellsI CanThreeAnimalEffortHuman NatureGeniusThousandHundredYears AgoExtraordinaryCustomsVegetablesFifteenThousand YearsWiserVary
Author:Lord Chesterfield
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“Gargoyles were the complement to saints; Leonardo's caricatures were complementary to his untiring search for ideal beauty. And gargoyles were the expression of all the passions, the animal forces, the Caliban gruntings and groanings which are left in human nature when the divine has been poured away. Leonardo was less concerned than his Gothic predecessors with the ethereal parts of our nature, and so his caricatures, in their expression of passionate energy, merge imperceptibly into the heroic.”

HumansHas BeensPassionEnergyLeftForceAnimalHuman NatureDivineExpressionConcernedIdealsSaintPassionateHeroicGothicPredecessorsCaricaturesComplementEtherealLeonardoComplementaryGroaningGargoylesCaliban
Author:Kenneth Clark
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“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

MenWorldLifeHumansDoeFreedomAnimalResponsibilityHuman NatureResponsibleExistentialismThrownExistentialTaking ResponsibilityPersonal ResponsibilityBeing FreeCondemningNauseaResponsibility For Your LifeResponsibilities In Life
Book:The Philosophical Library Existentialism Collection: Essays in Metaphysics, The Ethics of Ambiguity, and The Philosophy of Existentialism
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“Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion.”

MenPassionAnimalHuman NatureImpulseReasoningReasonable
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Correspondence [contin.] 1795-1804; 1777; 1791. Letters of H.G. 1789. Address to public creditors. 1790. Vindication of funding system. 1791
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“Men are rather reasoning than reasonable animals for the most part governed by the impulse of passion. This is a truth well understood by our adversaries who have practised upon it with no small benefit to their cause. For at the very moment they are eulogizing the reason of men & professing to appeal only to that faculty, they are courting the strongest & most active passion of the human heart - VANITY!”

MenHumansWellsHeartReasonMomentsPassionCausesAnimalHuman NatureBenefitsUnderstoodActiveVanityAppealsImpulseReasoningReasonableFacultyStrongestHuman HeartAdversaries
Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton: Correspondence [contin.] 1795-1804; 1777; 1791. Letters of H.G. 1789. Address to public creditors. 1790. Vindication of funding system. 1791
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“Human beings are not intrinsically selfish, which isolates us from others. We are essentially social animals who depend on others to meet our needs. We achieve happiness, prosperity and progress through social interaction. Therefore, having a kind and helpful attitude contributes to our own and others' happiness.”

PeopleNeedsHumansKindHelpingHappinessSocialHuman BeingsAnimalAttitudeKindnessProgressAchieveHuman NatureDependsProsperitySelfishHelping OthersBuddhistHelpfulInteractionSocial InteractionOthers HappinessNot Selfish
Author:Dalai Lama
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“The lower animals, on the other hand, must have their bodily structure modified in order to survive under greatly changed conditions. They must be rendered stronger, or acquire more effective teeth or claws, in order to defend themselves from new enemies; or they must be reduced in size so as to escape detection and danger. When they migrate into a colder climate they must become clothed with thicker fur, or have their constitutions altered. If they fail to be thus modified, they will cease to exist.”

IfsHandsOrderAnimalEnemyFailingConditionsHuman NatureDangerChangedConstitutionStrongerStructureClimateSizeCeaseTeethAcquireAlteredFurClawsDetectionMigrate
Book:The origin of species by means of natural selection: The descent of man and selection in relation to sex
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“A good deed done to an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done to a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is a bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.”

HumansDoneHuman BeingsAnimalHuman NatureDeedsCrueltyWelfareVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsPhilanthropyGood DeedsAnimal WelfareAnimal CrueltyAnimal LoveHuman AnimalAnimal WorldHumans And AnimalsPet AnimalsAnimal CompassionAnimal AbuseAnimals In NatureDeeds DoneNature And AnimalsHuman CompassionHuman CrueltyCompassion Towards Animals
Author:Muhammad
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“John Burroughs has stated that experimental study of animals in captivity is absolutely useless. Their character, their habits, their appetites undergo a complete transformation when torn from their soil in field and forest. With human nature caged in a narrow space, whipped daily into submission, how can we speak of its potentialities?”

HumansCharacterSpeakSpaceAnimalStudyHuman NatureFieldsHabitTransformationForestsUselessSoilAnarchyAppetiteTornSubmissionCaptivityCagedBurroughs
Book:Anarchism: Top Crime Collections
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“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
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“To meditate for world peace, to pray for a better world, and to work for social justice and environmental protection while continuing to purchase the flesh, milk, and eggs of horribly abused animals exposes a disconnect that is so fundamental that it renders our efforts absurd, hypocritical, and doomed to certain failure.”

WorldCertainSocialJusticePrayerAnimalEffortMeditationSocietyHuman NatureFailurePrayingSocial JusticeFundamentalsEnvironmentalProtectionFleshAbsurdEggsMilkComposerContinuingDoomedAbsurdityHypocriteEnvironmental ProtectionRenderingHypocriticalAbused AnimalsPray For PeaceDisconnecting
Book:The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony
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“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.”

HumansKindWholeFeelingsUniverseNatureHuman BeingsSpaceAnimalConsciousnessCompassionHuman NatureSelf AwarenessWhole WorldOur TimeDelusionVegetarianVeganAnimal RightsEcologyTime And SpaceVegetarianismRelativitySelf ConsciousnessSelf CompassionThoughts And FeelingsInterconnectedHuman ConsciousnessHuman AnimalAnimal WorldHuman ThoughtSave Mother EarthHumans And AnimalsHuman ConnectionHuman ActionsConscious AwarenessSpace TimeAnimal CompassionSpiritual NatureCommon HumanitySave The EnvironmentOne With NatureAnimals In NatureLimited TimeWeb Of LifeHuman CompassionEnvironmental PollutionLiving RightDivine BeautyParts Of A WholeKind ThoughtsExperiencing ThingsMind ThoughtsInterconnected WorldCaring And CompassionSimple ThoughtsEarth Community
Book:The Ultimate Quotable Einstein
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“We obey people we don't trust, to buy things we don't need, to impress people we don't like, using money we don't have, for gratifications that don't last, killing animals we don't hate, for pleasures that don't satisfy, dreaming of a life we don't deserve, and praying for an afterlife that doesn't exist, we are a stupid species”

PeopleLifeNeedsDreamLastsHatePleasureAnimalHuman NatureStupidTrustPrayingDeserveSpeciesKillingStupiditySillySatisfiedAfterlifeImpressGratificationDon't TrustDon't HateSillinessSelf-satisfactionAnimal AbuseKilling AnimalsYou Can't Fix Stupid
Author:Philip Wollen
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