Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Nature Quotes

Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

Related topics

MenPeopleIfsThinkingWorldMayWantWayKnowsHas BeensBelieveCharacterHuman BeingsMankindNeedsSelfInspirationalMeanWellsReasonDoeLawShouldTryingPersonsSeemsTwoDifferentGivingHumanityLongRealityLittlesPrinciplesUnderstandingFactsFeelsEvilKindWarMadeAnimalMindFirstsInterestLifeHeartLooksIdeasNaturalPassionDesirePoliticalSoulCommunitySidesVirtueArtCommonGovernmentMightRealSocialHappinessSpiritStudyActionAgeConditionsFeelingsFormIndividualSometimesWisdomWritingEndsExistenceFoundLanguagePleasureSpiritualViewsBornChangeDivineForceGivenIndividualityJusticeLiteratureQualityShowsWholeGreaterHateMatterMomentsPhilosophyPoliticsSciencemore

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
Create image

“I think it's going to be remembered as the last major war on planet Earth, if we're lucky, if we maintain our foreign policy properly. It will be remembered as the last time major countries had to put people in the field and put them in harm's way. It may be the last of all human nature wars, which is a nice way to remember any kind of a war, as the last one.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayHumansKindMayWarCountryEarthLastsRememberNiceHuman NaturePolicyFieldsPlanetsLuckyMajorsHarmRememberedForeign PolicyLast TimePlanet Earth
Author:Tom Clancy
Create image

“It's just human nature - isn't it? - to be more attracted to something that's taboo. If someone tells you not to smoke, you wanna smoke. If they say, 'Don't do drugs,' you wanna do drugs. That's why I've always thought that the best way to stop people taking drugs is to legalise the fucking things. It would take people about five seconds to realise that being an addict is a terribly unattractive and pathetic way to be, whereas at the moment it still has that kind of rebel cool vibe to it, y'know?”

PeopleIfsKnowsWayHumansKindStillsMomentsFiveHuman NatureKingsDrugBest WaySmokeRealisingSecondsRebelAddictPatheticTabooUnattractive
Author:Ozzy Osbourne
Create image

“Whereas happiness is the highest good, being a realization and perfect practice of virtue, which some can attain, while others have little or none of it, the various qualities of men are clearly the reason why there are various kinds of states and many forms of government; for different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.”

MenWayKindMeanLittlesDifferentStatesReasonGovernmentFormPerfectQualityPracticeVirtueHuman NatureHighestVariousRealizationReason WhyDifferent WaysForms Of GovernmentPerfect Practice
Book:The Essential Aristotle
Create image

“Ressentiment is a self-poisoning of the mind which has quite definite causes and consequences. It is a lasting mental attitude, caused by the systematic repression of certain emotions and affects which, as such are normal components of human nature. Their repression leads to the constant tendency to indulge in certain kinds of value delusions and corresponding value judgments. The emotions and affects primarily concerned are revenge, hatred, malice, envy, the impulse to detract, and spite.”

MindHumansKindSelfCertainValuesCausesEmotionAttitudeHuman NatureNormalJudgmentConsequenceConcernedHatredConstantRevengeEnvyTendenciesImpulseSpiteDelusionLastingDefiniteComponentsIndulgeMaliceRepressionSystematicIndulge InPoisoningMental AttitudeCorresponding
Book:On Feeling, Knowing, and Valuing: Selected Writings
Create image

“You never know what's actually going on in a person's life. You don't know what happened to them before you met them...and that's why they are the way they are. But I do think about it whenever I get in contact with my fans. I know this may be the only time they'll ever meet me. I try to take advantage of that moment and be kind and grateful.”

ThinkingKnowsWayTryingKindMayPersonsMomentsWisdomRealityCommunityHappenedFansHuman NatureMetsAdvantageGratefulStrategyUnityIndividualityContactIdeologyThat MomentBe KindOnly Time
Author:Katy Perry
Create image

“I...understand that age is kind of awesome. I am fortunate enough to know women like Gloria Steinem - who I think is one of the most stunning women on the planet - [who] doesn't touch her face. Diane Keaton, Annette Bening - all of these fabulous, fearless women who are flawless - they embrace it!”

ThinkingKnowsKindEnoughWisdomRealityAgeFacesScienceNatureLeadershipGenerationsFashionHuman NaturePlanetsHealthEmbraceIndividualityIdeologyFearlessFortunateFabulousStunningFlawlessGloria
Author:Jennifer Aniston
Create image

“I'll tell you...why Wonder Woman worked. Or Bionic Woman. Or any of those [shows] really. It was because it wasn't about brawn...it was about brains. And yes, she happened to be beautiful, she happened to be kind of extraordinary in some way, but she wasn't a guy. And I think that, [now], they...put out a female hero, and all they are doing is changing the costume from a man to a woman...they're not showcasing any of the tremendous dichotomies than women possess in term of softness and toughness, sweetness and grit, inner and outer strength.”

ThinkingMenWayKindShowsRealityBeautifulGuyTermCommunityLeadershipBrainWonderHistoryGenerationsHappenedFashionHuman NatureHeroFemaleStrategyExtraordinaryIndividualityIdeologyBe KindSweetnessCostumesGritToughnessSoftnessDichotomyWonder WomanBionics
Author:Lynda Carter
Create image

“There are three kinds of nature in man, as Nicetas Stethatos further explains: the carnal man, who wants to live for his own pleasure, even if it harms others; the natural man, who wants to please both himself and others; and the spiritual man, who wants to please only God, even if it harms himself. The first is lower than human nature, the second is normal, the third is above nature; it is life in Christ.”

IfsMenWantFirstsHumansKindSpiritualThreeChristNaturalPleasureHuman NaturePleaseNormalThirdsHarmAsceticism
Author:Tito Colliander
Create image

“Compassion does not only refine and civilize human nature, but has something in it more pleasing and agreeable, than what can be met with in such an indolent happiness, such an indifference to mankind, as that in which the stoics placed their wisdom. As love is the most delightful passion, pity is nothing else but love softened by a degree of sorrow: In short, it is a kind of pleasing anguish, anguish as well as generous sympathy, that knits mankind together, and blends them in the same common lot.”

HumansWellsKindDoeTogetherPassionLove IsCommonCompassionMankindHuman NatureSorrowMetsDegreesPityIndifferenceGenerousAnguishDelightful
Book:The spectator
Create image

“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
Create image

“Anarchists believe that we can govern ourselves in the absence of coercive and centralized authority; the underlying premise about human nature (to use an infinitely problematized but necessary term here) is fundamentally positive. And the evidence that in disasters people are really pretty kind, generous, brave, resourceful and creative fed that.”

PeopleBelieveHumansKindUseTermCreativeHuman NatureAuthorityEvidenceBraveAbsenceDisasterGenerousFedsPremisesAnarchistResourcefulReally Pretty
Author:Rebecca Solnit
Create image

“I still work that expectation/disappointment cycle all the time. I think it is part of the human nature and I think the most important thing is not to judge it. We are human and we do have expectations and a lot of our expectations are often not met. It is a process of learning how to be kind and compassionate and loving to ourselves when we don't get the things we want when people, circumstances, and opportunities don't match our expectations.”

PeopleThinkingWantHumansKindStillsImportantOpportunityProcessHuman NatureJudgingCircumstancesMetsExpectationsImportant ThingsDisappointmentCyclesBe KindCompassionate
Author:Agapi Stassinopoulos
Create image

“I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not "true" because we're hungry for another kind of truth: the mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about someone who lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about oneself. --From the Introduction”

ThinkingKnowsWorldHumansKindRealSelfStoriesCommunityFictionHuman NatureIdentityPossibilityParticularOneselfHungryReal WorldIntroduction
Book:Ender's Game
Create image

“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

HumansKindArtWisdomSoundPleasureHealingMusicHuman NatureProduceHealthSelf ImprovementMusicalComposerDopePlaying MusicInspirational MusicPower Of MusicUniversal LanguageFunny MusicWithout MusicMusic LifeSound Of MusicMusic And LifeFamous MusicianMusic EducationSound And MusicMusical LifeOld MusicWords And MusicInstrumental MusicFun MusicMusical CompositionMusic TherapyLife Without MusicProducing Music
Author:Confucius
Create image

“Theologians in all the great faiths have devised all kinds of myths to show that this type of kenosis, of self-emptying, is found in the life of God itself. They do not do this because it sounds edifying, but because this is the way that human nature seems to work. We are most creative and sense other possibilities that transcend our ordinary experience when we leave ourselves behind.”

WayHumansKindSelfShowsSeemsFoundSoundBehindsCreativeHuman NaturePossibilityTypeOrdinaryMythAll KindsTheologianGreat Faith
Book:The Spiral Staircase
Create image

“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
Create image

“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.”

WorldHumansKindDoeWarStatesWould BeNationsPresidentInterestUnitedOpinionUnited StatesVirtueWiseHuman NatureConcernCommitDelicateSoleIntercourseExaltedWarrantsMagistrates
Book:The Federalist on the New Constitution
Create image

“I love playing all kinds of roles. I hope it doesn’t sound too pretentious, but I always feel human nature is like a piano, and there are 88 keys, and there are some white keys and some black keys, and each character is a different chord on the piano. Basically, I hope that in the course of my life, I will have played all 88 keys. So, I’ll have played heroes and villains and princes and kings and warriors and beggars and thieves and lovers and fathers and wizards and all of those things. That is why I’m an actor… I love studying people.”

PeopleFeelsHumansKindDifferentCharacterCoursesActorsFatherSoundBlackWhiteRolesStudyHuman NatureKeysKingsHeroLoversAll KindsWarriorPianoVillainThievesChordsWizardsBeggarPretentiousHeroes And VillainsBlack Keys
Author:Tom Hiddleston
Create image

“I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling, that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized world. I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism.”

PeopleWorldTryingBelieveHumansKindArtRealMomentsFeelingsHumanityI BelieveHistoryFeminismHuman NatureLimitsConcernEmbraceStriveHumanismFeministI Believe InConnectedMythAlternativesRelateHumanistExtendingArt WorldReal HumanDeepness
Author:Judy Chicago
Create image

“Laughter, while it lasts, slackens and unbraces the mind, weakens the faculties and causes a kind of remissness and dissolution in all the powers of the soul; and thus it may be looked on as weakness in the composition of human nature. But if we consider the frequent relieves we receive from it and how often it breaks the gloom which is apt to depress the mind and damp our spirits, with transient, unexpected gleams of joy, one would take care not to grow too wise for so great a pleasure of life.”

IfsLifeMindHumansKindMaySoulCareLastsJoySpiritGrowsCausesPleasureBreakWiseHuman NatureLaughterWeaknessTake CareUnexpectedFacultyDepressingCompositionGloomTransientGleamDissolutionDampPleasures Of Life
Author:Malcolm De Chazal
Create image

“And as this is the obvious appearance of things, it must be admitted, till some hypothesis be discovered, which by penetrating deeper into human nature, may prove the former affections to be nothing but modifications of the latter. All attempts of this kind have hitherto proved fruitless, and seem to have proceeded entirely from that love of simplicity which has been the source of much false reasoning in philosophy.”

HumansKindMayHas BeensPhilosophySeemsHuman NatureSourceWords Of WisdomProveSimplicityAffectionObviousAppearanceDeeperFormerReasoningLatterHypothesisModification
Book:Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects
Create image

“I doubt if anyone of any tenderness or imagination can see the hand of a child and not be a little frightened of it. It is awful to think of the essential human energy moving so tiny a thing; it is like imagining that human nature could live in the wing of a butterfly or the leaf of a tree. When we look upon lives so human and yet so small... We feel the same kind of obligation to these creatures that a deity might feel...”

IfsThinkingFeelsHumansLooksKindChildrenLittlesHandsMightMovingEnergyImaginationDoubtTreeHuman NatureCreaturesEssentialsCatholicWingsTinyObligationAwfulLook UpFrightenedButterflyTendernessLeafs
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“I am convinced that human nature is basically affectionate and good. If our behavior follows our kind and loving nature, immense benefits will result, not only for ourselves, but also for the society to which we belong. I generally refer to this sort of love and affection as a universal religion. Everyone needs it, believers as much as non-believers. This attitude constitutes the very basis of morality.”

IfsNeedsHumansKindResultsAttitudeHuman NatureWords Of WisdomMoralityBehaviorBenefitsUniversalBasesAffectionConvincedGoodBelieverBelongingImmenseWise Man Once SaidTibetanAffectionateNon BelieverLove And AffectionLoving Nature
Author:Dalai Lama
Create image

“The task of evolutionary psychology is not to weigh in on human nature, a task better left to others. It is to add the satisfying kind of insight that only science can provide: to connect what we know about human nature with the rest of our knowledge of how the world works, and to explain the largest number of facts with the smallest number of assumptions.”

KnowsWorldHumansKindFactsLeftNumbersPsychologyHuman NatureTasksAddInsightAssumptionSatisfyingSmallestEvolutionary Psychology
Book:How the Mind Works
Create image