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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“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
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“Nature's law says that the strong must prevent the weak from living, but only in a newspaper article or textbook can this be packaged into a comprehensible thought. In the soup of everyday life, in the mixture of minutia from which human relations are woven, it is not a law. It is a logical incongruity when both strong and weak fall victim to their mutual relations, unconsciously subservient to some unknown guiding power that stands outside of life, irrelevant to man.”

MenHumansLawFallStrongNatureHuman NatureWeakRelationVictimEverydayEqualityNewspapersLogicalMutualArticlesEveryday LifeSoupIrrelevantStanding OutMixturesWovenHuman RelationsTextbooksSubservientIncongruity
Author:Anton Chekhov
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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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“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.”

HumansStatesBodySpiritPurposeFallLinesAcceptingKnowingHuman NatureMajorsRelationTerrorMortalsCyclesOver ItRebellionUnnecessaryFiniteAngstMeaning Life
Author:Edwin S. Shneidman
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“Throughout the entire history of philosophy, philosophers have sought to discover what man is - or what human nature is. But Sartre believed that man has no such eternal nature to fall back on. It is therefore useless to search for the meaning of life in general. We are condemned to improvise. We are like actors dragged onto the stage without having learned our lines, with no script and no prompter to whisper stage directions to us. We must decide for ourselves how to live.”

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Author:Jostein Gaarder
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“When the days become longer and there is more sunshine, the grass becomes fresh and, consequently, we feel very happy. On the other hand, in autumn, one leaf falls down and another leaf falls down. The beautiful plants become as if dead and we do not feel very happy. Why? I think it is because deep down our human nature likes construction, and does not like destruction. Naturally, every action which is destructive is against human nature. Constructiveness is the human way. Therefore, I think that in terms of basic human feeling, violence is not good. Non-violence is the only way.”

IfsThinkingWayFeelsHumansDoeFeelingsHandsActionBeautifulFallTermViolenceHuman NatureDestructionDown AndPlantLikesBuddhistGrassDestructiveSunshineAutumnConstructionVery HappyLeafsFalling DownDeep DownNon Violence
Author:Dalai Lama
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“Inference is founded upon obvious reasons. Regard to reputation has a less active influence, when the infamy of a bad action is to be divided upon a number, than when it is to fall singly upon one. A spirit of faction . . . will often hurry the persons of whom they were composed into improprieties and excesses for which they would blush in a private capacity.”

PersonsReasonActionSpiritFallNumbersInfluenceHuman NatureCapacityRegardObviousActiveReputationDividedExcessFactionsInferenceInfamyBad Actions
Book:America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights
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“Democracy must stand or fall on a platform of possible human perfectibility. If human nature cannot be improved by institutions, democracy is at best a more than usually safe form of political organization . . . . But if it is to work better as well as merely longer, it must have some leavening effect on human nature; and the sincere democrat is obliged to assume the power of the leaven. [Progressive]”

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Book:The Promise of American Life
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“Lying increases the creative faculties, expands the ego, lessens the friction of social contacts. . . . It is only in lies, wholeheartedly and bravely told, that human nature attains through words and speech the forebearance, the nobility, the romance, the idealism, that-being what it is-it falls so short of in fact and in deed.”

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Author:Clare Boothe Luce
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“Really to believe in human nature while striving to know the thousand forces that warp it from its ideal development - to call for and expect much from men and women, and not to be disappointed and embittered if they fall short - to try to do good with people rather than to them - this is my religion on its human side. And if God exists, I think that he must be in the warm sun, in the kindly actions of the people we know and read of, in the beautiful things of art and nature, and in the closeness of friendships.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsMenTryingBelieveHumansArtActionBeautifulFallForceSidesSunHuman NatureDevelopmentThousandMen And WomenIdealsStriveWarmDisappointedBeautiful ThingsClosenessGod ExistsWarp
Author:Randolph Bourne
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