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Human Nature Quotes

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Human Nature Quotes

“When the laws are written and administered by the most powerful leaders in a society, it is human nature for them to understand, justify, and protect the interests of themselves and people like them. Many injustices arise from this natural human failing.”

People Humans Law Interest Natural Justice Powerful Leader Failing Written Human Nature Protect Injustice Arise Justify Most Powerful Powerful Leaders

Book:Living Faith

Source: Living Faith

“There are two levers for moving men - interest and fear.”

Men Two Moving Motivation Fear Interest Courage Human Nature Levers

Author:Napoleon Bonaparte

“In a large congregation, while there is a wide diversification of interest, it is also true that there are only a few basic human problems. It must also be taken into consideration that people are people regardless of who they are or what their backgrounds may be. There are certain deep universal appeals to human interest and to these human nature always responds.”

People Humans May Problem Certain Interest Taken Human Nature Universal Wide Backgrounds Appeals Consideration Congregation Diversification Human Problems

Book:A Guide to Confident Living

Source: A Guide to Confident Living

“For as long as men and women have talked about war, they have talked about it in terms of right and wrong. And for almost as long, some among them have derided such talk, called it a charade, insisted that war lies beyond (or beneath) moral judgment. War is a world apart, where life itself is at stake, where human nature is reduced to its elemental forms, where self-interest and necessity prevail. Here men and women do what they must to save themselves and their communities, and morality and law have no place. Inter arma silent leges: in time of war the law is silent.”

Source: Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations

“It is a truth of human nature that we can ponder life's mysteries for only so long before we lose interest and move on to something else.”

Humans Long Moving Interest Loses Mystery Human Nature Pondering

Book:P Is for Peril

Source: P Is for Peril

“Those things interest me a lot in songwriting - the human nature of how people think, and the muck that we wind up in.”

People Thinking Humans Interest Human Nature Wind Songwriting

Author:Jakob Dylan

“A small knowledge of human nature will convince us, that, with far the greatest part of mankind, interest is the governing principle... Few men are capable of making a continual sacrifice of all views of private interest, or advantage, to the common good. It is vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account; the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims can succeed.”

“What proposition is there respecting human nature which is absolutely and universally true? We know of only one,--and that is not only true, but identical,--that men always act from self-interest.”

Knows Men Humans Self Humanity Interest Human Nature Propositions Self Interest Identical

Author:Thomas B. Macaulay

“Even if this advice to portfolio decision makers to drop dead is good advice, it obviously is not counsel that will be eagerly followed. Few people will commit suicide without a push. And fewer still will pay good money to be told to do what is against human nature and self-interest to do.”

People Ifs Humans Stills Self Interest Decision Pay Advice Human Nature Suicide Investing Commit Makers Fewer Self Interest Good Advice Portfolios Good Money Decision Makers

Author:Paul Samuelson

“I wished to acquire the simplicity, native feelings, and virtues of savage life; to divest myself of the factitious habits, prejudices and imperfections of civilization; ... and to find, amidst the solitude and grandeur of the western wilds, more correct views of human nature and of the true interests of man. The season of snows was preferred, that I might experience the pleasure of suffering, and the novelty of danger.”

Source: Evans's Pedestrious Tour

“As I see it, there are two great forces of human nature: self-interest, and caring for others. Capitalism harnesses self-interest in a helpful and sustainable way, but only on behalf of those who can pay. Government aid and philanthropy channel our caring for those who can't pay. But to provide rapid improvement for the poor we need a system that draws in innovators and businesses in a far better way than we do today.”

“I have long been settled in my own opinion that neither Philosophy, nor Religion, nor Morality, nor Wisdom, nor Interest, will ever govern nations or Parties, against their vanity, their Pride, their Resentment, or Revenge, or their Avarice, or Ambition. Nothing but Force and Power and Strength can restrain them.”

Long Philosophy Force Nations Interest My Own Party Opinion Human Nature Pride Morality Ambition Revenge Vanity Resentment Avarice Power And Strength Force And Power

Book:John Adams: Writings from the New Nation, 1784-1826

Source: John Adams: Writings from the New Nation, 1784-1826

“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.”

People Men Way Giving Wells Government Law Passion Interest Liberty Democracy Human Nature Property Steady Superstitions Monarchy Oath Inadequate Aristocracy Restraining

Author:John Adams

“...compartmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called 'practice' from insight; of imagination from executive 'doing.' Each of these activities is then assigned its own place in which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then suppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.”

Writing Humans Interest Imagination Practice Human Nature Activity Constitution Insight Separation Executives Division Occupation Anatomy

Author:John Dewey

“Is war an inevitable outcome of competing interests in a complex society? In other words, would war be the same even if human nature were very different? There are mathematical models of large groups working together that lead to conflict on a reliable basis. So there's a whole other view of war that is not psychological at all.”

“Communism is an aspiration, an aspiration is an ideal, a dream, a longing of something that would be perfect, but hard to build because it has to clash with human nature and against the egotism of humans and the egotism of the elites which usually try to guarantee their own interests above those of their nations and of their own people. But they are the ones that prevail because they have the economic power, the political power and the military power.”

“I think it's good to have your own selfish interests, whether it's liking chocolate ice cream or wanting a new car. It's just human nature is that. We have our own selfish interests. I think we have interests that go beyond our self to friends, to family first, maybe to friends, maybe to community. I think that's important to think about those spheres of influence that radiate from you.”

Thinking Important Interest Community Influence Car Human Nature Selfish Chocolate New Car

Author:Les Wexner

“It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fifty words used in correct context - no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.”

Humans Has Beens Motivational Used Universe Interest Human Beings Animal Learning Human Nature Humility Notes Fifty Ironic Dolphins

Author:Carl Sagan

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)

“It's simply human nature to have an occasional, fleeting interest in someone whom you once loved.”

Humans Interest Human Nature Fleeting Occasional

Book:Love the One You're With

Source: Love the One You're With

“The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of Government. But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

Men Should Humans May Government Politics Interest Rights Human Nature He Man Reflection Abuse Connected Devices Federalist Federalist Papers Constitutional Rights

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“Humanity is at the very beginning of its existence-a new-born babe, with all the unexplored potentialities of babyhood; and until the last few moments its interest has been centred, absolutely and exclusively, on its cradle and feeding bottle.”

Has Beens Moments Lasts Science Humanity Interest Born Existence Human Nature Bottles Feeding Cradle Babe Unexplored Babyhood

Book:Nature

Source: Nature

“There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind more honest than they are. Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest.”

May Government Spirit Choices Passion Interest Mankind Honest Human Nature Ambition Errors Worthy Motive Prevailing

Book:The Works of Alexander Hamilton

Source: The Works of Alexander Hamilton

“Has it not. . . invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interests, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility and justice?”

Humans Passion Found Interest Justice Human Nature Policy Active Consideration Utility Momentary

Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

Source: The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788

“We cannot doubt that self-interest is the mainspring of human nature. It must be clearly understood that this word is used here to designate a universal, incontestable fact, resulting from the nature of man, and not an adverse judgment, as would be the word selfishness.”

Men Humans Self Facts Would Be Used Interest Liberty Doubt Economic Human Nature Judgment Understood Economics Universal Selfishness Self Interest Adverse Nature Of Man

Author:Frederic Bastiat

“There is in every breast a sensibility to marks of honor, of favor, of esteem, and of confidence, which, apart from all considerations of interest, is some pledge for grateful and benevolent returns. Ingratitude is a common topic of declamation against human nature; and it must be confessed, that instances of it are but too infrequent and flagrant both in public and in private life. But the universal and extreme indignation which it inspires, is itself a proof of the energy and prevalence of the contrary sentiment.”

Source: The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

“The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a magistrate, created and circumstanced, as would be a president of the United States.”

Source: The Federalist on the New Constitution

“I shall not fear to say that the doctrine of self-interest rightly understood seems to me of all the philosophic theories the most appropriate to the needs of men in our time, and that I see in it the most powerful guarantee against themselves that remains to them. The minds of the moralists of our day ought to turn, therefore, principally toward it. Even should they judge it imperfect, they would still have to adopt it as necessary.”

“The smaller the number and the more permanent and conspicuous the station of men in power, the stronger must be the interest which they will individually feel in whatever concerns the government.”

Men Feels Government Interest Numbers Human Nature Concern Stronger Permanent Stations

Book:The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

Source: The Federalist Papers: A Collection of Essays Written in Favour of the New Constitution

“This position will not be disputed so long as it is admitted that the desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct, or that the best security for the fidelity of mankind is to make their interest coincide with their duty. Even the love of fame, the ruling passion of the noblest minds... would on the contrary deter him from the undertaking, when he foresaw that he must quit the scene before he could accomplish the work.”

“The experience of treaties being broken with impunity provide an afflicting lesson to mankind how little dependence is to be placed on treaties which have no other sanction than the obligations of good faith; and which oppose general considerations of peace and justice to the impulse of any immediate interest and passion.”

Littles Passion Interest Justice Mankind Human Nature Broken Lessons Obligation Impulse Consideration Dependence Sanctions Treaties Peace And Justice Impunity Good Faith Being Broken

Author:Alexander Hamilton

“Man is very much a creature of habit. A thing that rarely strikes his senses will generally have but little influence upon his mind. A government continually at a distance and out of sight, can hardly be expected to interest the sensations of the people. The inference is, that the authority of the Union, and the affections of the citizens towards it, will be strengthened rather than weakened by its extension to what are called matters of internal concern.”

Source: America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights

“Common interest may always be reckoned upon as the surest bond of sympathy.”

May Interest Common Human Nature Common Interests

Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, with an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793

Source: The Federalist on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788, with an Appendix Containing the Letters of Pacificus and Helvidius on the Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793

“With regard to the learned professions, little need be observed; they truly form no distinct interest in society . . . [discussing the landed, merchant, and learned classes in legislative assembly]. Will not the man of the learned profession, who will feel a neutrality to the rivalships between the different branches of industry, be likely to prove an impartial arbiter between them, ready to promote either, so far as it shall appear to him conducive to the general interests of society?”

Men Needs Feels Littles Different Form Interest Class Human Nature He Man Ready Industry Prove Regard Profession Branches Assembly Discussing Merchants Neutrality Arbiter

Author:Alexander Hamilton

“The Americans, on the contrary, are fond of explaining almost all the actions of their lives by the principle of interest rightly understood; they show with complacency how an enlightened regard for themselves constantly prompts them to assist each other, and inclines them willingly to sacrifice a portion of their time and property to the welfare of the state.”

Source: Democracy in America: The Complete and Unabridged Volumes I and II

“Self-interest, to be sure, is one of the most important, but we have many other motives - honesty, self-respect, altruism, love, sympathy, faith, sense of duty, solidarity, loyalty, public-spiritedness, patriotism, and so on - that are sometimes even more important than self-seeking as the driver of our behaviors.”

Important Self Sometimes Interest Human Nature Honesty Duty Behavior Seeking Loyalty Motive Self Respect Drivers Solidarity Altruism Self Interest

Author:Ha-Joon Chang

“The theory that everyone acts from self-interest, direct or indirect, is psychologically unsound. . . . Throughout history . . . there have been millions of men and women with some sort of Humanist philosophy who have consciously given up their lives for a social ideal.”

Men Has Beens Self Philosophy Given Social Interest Millions Human Nature Theory Men And Women Ideals Direct Humanist Self Interest Given Up Indirect

Author:Corliss Lamont

“Science is the only news. When you scan a news portal or magazine, all the human interest stuff is the same old he-said-she-said, the politics and economics the same cyclical dramas, the fashions a pathetic illusion of newness; even the technology is predictable if you know the science behind it. Human nature doesn't change much; science does, and the change accrues, altering the world irreversibly”

“I believe that the basic nature of human beings is gentle and compassionate. It is therefore in our own interest to encourage that nature, to make it live within us, to leave room for it to develop. If on the contrary we use violence, it is as if we voluntarily obstruct the positive side of human nature and prevent its evolution.”

Ifs Believe Humans Use I Believe Sides Interest Human Beings Rooms Healing Violence Human Nature Evolution Conflict Contrary Gentle Compassionate Conflict Resolution Conflict Of Interest

Author:Dalai Lama

“If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people - a very few people, but a few novelists are among them - are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest in against such a search: organized religion, the state, the family in its economic aspect, have nothing to gain, and it is only when outward prohibitions weaken that it can proceed: history conditions it to that extent.”

“Creating new people, by having babies, is so much a part of human life that it is rarely thought even to require a justification. Indeed, most people do not even think about whether they should or should not make a baby. They just make one. In other words, procreation is usually the consequence of sex rather than the result of a decision to bring people into existence. Those who do indeed decide to have a child might do so for any number of reasons, but among these reasons cannot be the interests of the potential child. One can never have a child for that child’s sake.”

Source: Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence

“Economic activity is no longer an adversarial contest between embattled sellers and buyers "In the distributed economy, where collaboration trumps competition, inclusivity replaces exclusivity and transparency and openness to others becomes essential to the new way of conducting business, empathic sensibility has room to breathe and thrive. It is no longer so constrained by hierarchies, boundaries of exclusion, and a concept of human nature that places acquisitiveness, self-interest, and utility at the center of the human experience."”

“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.”

“It’s in our interest to take care of others. Self-centrednes s is opposed to basic human nature. In our own interest as human beings we need to pay attention to our inner values. Sometimes people think compassion is only of help to others, while we get no benefit. This is a mistake. When you concern yourself with others, you naturally develop a sense of self-confidence . To help others takes courage and inner strength.”

“To the intelligent man with an interest in human nature it must often appear strange that so much of the energy of the scientific world has been spent on the study of the body and so little on the study of the mind.”

Men World Mind Humans Littles Has Beens Body Energy Interest Nature Study Human Nature Strange Intelligent Intelligent Man

Book:Animal Intelligence: Experimental Studies

Source: Animal Intelligence: Experimental Studies

“Gandhi rejects the Adam Smith notion of human nature as motivated by self-interest and brute needs and returns us to our spiritual dimension with its impulses for nonviolence, justice and equality. He exposes the fallacy of the claim that everyone can be rich and successful provided they work hard. He points to the millions who work themselves to the bone and still remain hungry.”