“we are beginning to understand that this instinct of sex which has been so great a cause of suffering and shame and has been treated as a subject fit only for furtive whispers or silly jokes, is in fact one of the greatest powers in human nature, and that its misuse is indeed 'the expense of spirit in a waste of shame.” HumansHas BeensFactsSpiritSufferingSexCausesSubjectsHuman NatureFitWasteJokesShameInstinctSillyTreatedExpensesMisuse Book:Sex and Common-sense Source: Sex and Common-sense
“I think most generations tend to learn the lesson of war the hard way. There is a deep attraction to the empowerment. Freud is right: societies either become locked in a collective embrace of Eros, as individuals do, or a collective embrace of Thanatos, the death instinct. They swing between the two. The notion that societies are naturally prone toward self-preservation is wrong. Self-annihilation can be deeply addictive, intoxicating, enticing. So I take a darker view of human nature, that war is probably always going to be with us. I think history bears me out.” ThinkingWayHumansTwoWarSelfHardIndividualViewsGenerationsHuman NatureBearsLessonsEmpowermentEmbraceInstinctNotionAttractionCollectivesSwingsLockedPreservationAnnihilationSelf PreservationErosHard WayEnticingThanatos Author:Chris Hedges
“We are not held accountable for how the economy ravages Congo. Governments aren't held accountable for foreign policies that they exercise there. There are no institutional structures to render justice. The press is very limited. There's very little transparency. You find a symmetry in certain basic human tendencies, and these tendencies are not always noble or beautiful. I think we have an instinct to turn away from that, to not acknowledge it, while it is something that's a part of us. There's a certain tragic and sad side to human nature that, in our quest for beauty, we ignore.” ThinkingBeautifulJusticeEconomyHuman NaturePolicyExerciseInstinctAcknowledgeTragicForeign PolicyTransparencyCongoSymmetry Author:Anjan Sundaram
“Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these things abut a person, you can touch him at the core of his being.” IfsKnowsMenHumansPersonsActionPowerfulKnowledgeHuman NatureInstinctInsightCoreCompulsion Author:William Bernbach
“Idealists are people who believe in the potential of human nature for transformation. . . . The most essential attribute of human nature is its mutability and freedom from instinct . . . it is always within our power to change our nature. So it is actually the idealists who are on the mark and the realists who are off base.” PeopleBelieveHumansHuman NatureEssentialsMarkTransformationInstinctAttributesIdealismRealistIdealistPower To ChangeMutability Book:People of the Lie Source: People of the Lie
“Whether at home or abroad, the task of statesman is to work with human nature warts and all, and to draw on instincts and even prejudices that can be turned to good purpose. It is never to try to recreate Mankind in a new image.” TryingHumansHomePurposeMankindHuman NatureDrawsTasksPrejudiceInstinctStatesmenWarts Author:Margaret Thatcher
“Our human nature is profoundly phototropic. Men obey their deepest instincts when they hold fast to light.” MenHumansLightHuman NatureInstinctHold Fast Author:Gyorgy Kepes