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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“If we have system in which government is in a position to give large favor - it's human nature to try to get this favor - whether those people are large enterprises, or whether they're small businesses like farmers, or whether they're representatives of any other special group. The only way to prevent that is to force them to engage in competition one with the other.”

PeopleIfsWayGivingTryingHumansGovernmentForceGroupsSpecialHuman NaturePositionCompetitionFavorsEnterpriseFarmersRepresentativesSmall Business
Author:Milton Friedman
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“Never since the dawn of human history, as far as I can find out, did people long settled in any region give a friendly welcome to newcomers. One of the disagreeable traits of our human nature seems to be to dislike on sight people who come later than the first settlers.”

PeopleGivingFirstsHumansLongI CanSeemsHuman NatureSightWelcomeDawnRegionsFriendlyDislikeTraitsOutsidersHuman HistoryDisagreeableSettlersNewcomers
Book:Vermont Tradition: The Biography of an Outlook on Life
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“We have no participation in Being, because all human nature is ever midway between being born and dying, giving off only a vague image and shadow of itself, and a weak and uncertain opinion. And if you chance to fix your thoughts on trying to grasp its essence, it would be neither more nor less than if your tried to clutch water.”

IfsThinkingGivingTryingHumansWould BeWaterBornChanceOpinionDyingHuman NatureShadowWeakEssenceThoughtfulUncertainVagueParticipationClutchMidway
Book:The Essays
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“Let those flatter, who fear: it is not an American art. To give praise where it is not due, might be well from the venal, but would ill beseem those who are asserting the rights of human nature.”

GivingHumansWellsArtMightRightsHuman NaturePraiseIllDuesFlattery
Book:Memoirs, Correspondence, and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United States
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“The spirit of God, like the sun, always gives all its light at once. The spirit of man resembles the pale moon, which has its phases, its absences and its returns, its lucidity and its spots, its fullness and its disappearance, which borrows all its light from the rays of the sun, and which still dares to intercept them on occasion.”

MenGivingStillsGodLightSpiritSunHuman NaturePrideReturnMoonDareAbsenceSpotsOccasionsRaysPalePhasesFullnessSpirit Of GodDisappearanceLucidity
Author:Victor Hugo
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“The President's biggest problem right now is he's gotta tell the truth. And we've seen this in New Jersey. I've told lots of hard truths in New Jersey that people didn't necessarily agree with, but they give you credit for looking them in the eye and telling them the truth.”

PeopleGivingHardProblemRealityEyePoliticsPresidentCommunityLeadershipHuman NatureHealthRight NowAgreeIndividualityCreditTelling The TruthJerseyNew JerseyHard Truths
Author:Chris Christie
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“I've noticed that a lot of people do much better when all their resolutions are framed as 'Yes.' Not something like, "I'm going to give up French Fries," but something like "I'm going to eat three vegetables every day." "I'm going to hug more, kiss more, touch more." "I'm going to listen to more music." They do better when they frame things in the positive. And I think this is just part of human nature.”

PeopleThinkingGivingHumansThreeHuman NatureKissingGiving UpResolutionVegetablesHugFramedFriesFrench Fries
Author:Gretchen Rubin
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“Thus, experience has ever shown, that education, as well as religion, aristocracy, as well as democracy and monarchy, are, singly, totally inadequate to the business of restraining the passions of men, of preserving a steady government, and protecting the lives, liberties, and properties of the people . . . . Religion, superstition, oaths, education, laws, all give way before passions, interest, and power, which can be resisted only by passions, interest, and power.”

PeopleMenWayGivingWellsGovernmentLawPassionInterestLibertyDemocracyHuman NaturePropertySteadySuperstitionsMonarchyOathInadequateAristocracyRestraining
Author:John Adams
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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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“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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“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

MenGivingPersonsTruthFunnyDarkTalkingHuman NatureHonestyWise WordsHeroTruth IsComfortableOneselfWittySelf DiscoveryNovelistsBeing YourselfTelling The TruthMaskFinding YourselfAbout YourselfBe YouDiscoveringTrue SelfKnow YourselfLiedDiscomfortDishonestyPlaywrightCriminal MindBeing SingleHonest ManKnow ThyselfAnonymityAbsolute TruthTruth And LiesEssayistsHonest TruthTruth And HonestyTruth HonestyJust Being YouSelf KnowingLying MenTruth Be ToldSpiritual TruthDiscovering YourselfLies TruthTelling LiesBeing LiedDiscovering SelfSaying The TruthBusiness PlanningDiscovery In LifeTrue To OneselfDiscovering Your True SelfAlready TakenWearing A MaskBeing Your True SelfHiding The TruthDishonesty And LyingLying To YourselfUnderstanding YourselfDiscovering The TruthBe Your Own PersonTruth To YourselfTruth Revealed
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“Life is holy and it is for all of us. God's design, I cannot understand myself and I never will, but I do know that what we are experiencing now will pass and in the end we will all be brothers, not just blood brothers, as we are, but brothers in spirit. Neither you nor I can change the world or human nature and we can only aim at changing attitudes - and perhaps teach those who have so much to give a portion of their blessings to those who have less.”

KnowsWorldGivingHumansI CanEndsLife IsSpiritAttitudeTeachBloodHuman NatureDesignBrotherHolyBlessingAimChanging The WorldPortionsChanging AttitudeBlood Brothers
Author:F. Sionil José
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“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

MenGivingMindHeartLittlesPurposeValuesGrowsPrinciplesTroubleStrengthHuman NatureHe ManConflictReflectionConscienceEncouragementHarderBravePerseveranceEsteemPursueTriumphFirmGloriousResolutionDistressShrinksBeing StrongStrength And WeaknessStrong WillKeep RunningStrength Of MindLittle MindsStrength And PerseveranceStrength WeaknessPerseverance In LoveWeakness And Fear
Author:Thomas Paine
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“There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers...even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.”

PeopleIfsGivingFirstsHumansPersonsFactsFoundHuman BeingsPerfectHuman NatureGiving UpIllusionPerfectionAngryVery GoodSaintCreatorBoringSelfishDozenSageUncommonDisillusionmentIrritatingSeersShakers
Author:Abraham Maslow
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“Dreams are impartial, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche, outside the control of the will. They are pure nature; they show us the unvarnished, natural truth, and are therefore fitted, as nothing else is, to give us back an attitude that accords with our basic human nature when our consciousness has strayed too far from its foundations and run into an impasse.”

GivingHumansShowsDreamRunningNaturalConsciousnessAttitudeHuman NatureProductsPureFoundationUnconsciousSpontaneousAccordMemories Dreams ReflectionsImpasse
Book:The Earth Has a Soul: The Nature Writings of C.G. Jung
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“The faith of those who live their faith is a serene faith. What you long for will be given you; what you love will be yours for ever. Since it is by giving alms that everything is pure for you, you will also receive that blessing which is promised next by the Lord: the Godhead that no man has been able to see. In the inexpressible joy of this eternal vision, human nature will possess what eye has not seen or ear heard, what man's heart has never conceived.”

MenGivingHumansHeartLongHas BeensInspirationEyeAbleJoyFaithNextGivenVisionLordHeardHuman NatureBlessingPureEternalEarsWhat You LoveSereneAlms
Author:Pope Leo I
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“The value of money has been settled by general consent to express our wants and our property, as letters were invented to express our ideas; and both these institutions, by giving a more active energy to the powers and passions of human nature, have contributed to multiply the objects they were designed to represent.”

WantGivingHumansHas BeensIdeasValuesPassionEnergyHistoryHuman NatureObjectsLettersInstitutionsPropertyActiveConsentRoman EmpireValue Of Money
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“If idioms are more to be born than to be selected, then the things of life and human nature that a man has grown up with--(not that one man's experience is better than another's, but that it is 'his.')--may give him something better in his substance and manner than an over-long period of superimposed idiomatic education which quite likely doesn't fit his constitution. My father used to say, 'If a poet knows more about a horse than he does about heaven, he might better stick to the horse, and some day the horse may carry him into heaven'”

IfsKnowsMenGivingHumansMayLongDoeMightUsedFatherHeavenBornHuman NaturePoetPeriodsFitConstitutionHorseSticksSubstanceOne ManSomething BetterSelectedIdiom
Author:Charles Ives
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“There is a prayer intended to give strength to people faced with circumstances they don’t want to accept. The power of the prayer comes from it's insight into human nature. Because so many of us rage against the hand that life has dealt us. Because so many of us are cowardly. And afraid to stand up for what is right. Because so many of us give into despair when faced with an impossible choice. The good news for those who utter these words is that God will hear you and answer your prayer. The bad news is that sometimes the answer is no.”

PeopleWantGivingHumansSometimesHandsChoicesPrayerAnswersAcceptingImpossibleHuman NatureCircumstancesDespairNewsInsightRageGods WillGood NewsOur PrayersCowardlyBad News
Author:Mary Alice
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“Self-deception is a defining part of our human nature. By recognizing its various forms in ourselves and reflecting upon them, we may be able to disarm them and even, in some cases, to employ and enjoy them. This self-knowledge opens up a whole new world before us, rich in beauty and subtlety, and frees us not only to take the best out of it, but also to give it back the best of ourselves, and, in so doing, to fulfil our potential as human beings. I don't really think it's a choice.”

ThinkingWorldGivingHumansMaySelfWholeAbleFormChoicesEnjoyHuman BeingsCasesRichHuman NatureVariousDeceptionNew WorldSelf KnowledgeRecognizingDefiningReflectingSelf DeceptionSubtletyReflecting Upon
Author:Neel Burton
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“The miracle of Bach has not appeared in any other art. To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervour, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.”

GivingHumansArtMadeMomentsSpiritualClearHuman NatureDivineActivityOrdinaryEternityMiracleWingsAll TimeAttributesEphemeral
Author:Pablo Casals
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