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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“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
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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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“One of the less attractive aspects of human nature is our tendency to hate the people we haven't treated very well; it's much easier than accepting guilt. If we can convince ourselves that the people we betrayed or enslaved were subhuman monsters in the first place, then our guilt isn't nearly so black as we secretly know that it is. Humans are very, very good at shifting blame and avoiding guilt.”

PeopleIfsKnowsFirstsHumansWellsHateBlackAcceptingHuman NatureHavensAcceptanceEasierAspectBlameGuiltVery GoodBetrayalMonstersTreatedTendenciesGuiltyAttractiveConvinceAvoidingBetrayedConvincingShiftingEnslavement
Author:David Eddings
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“We are so full of apprehensions, fears, that we don't know exactly to what it points... a great change of our psychoglocal attitude is imminent, that is certain...because we need more understanding of human nature because ...the only real danger that exists is man himself... and we know nothing of man - his psyche should be studied because we are the origin of all coming evil.”

KnowsMenNeedsShouldHumansRealCertainEvilUnderstandingAttitudeHuman NatureDangerApprehensionGreat Change
Author:Carl Jung
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“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”

KnowsLifeInspirationalHumansDreamMotivationalTodayTimeEnjoyHuman NaturePositive ThinkingInspirational LifeWise WordsFutureDepressionAnxietyGardenWindowTragedyRoseLive LifeTragicPresent MomentHorizonProcrastinationLive In The MomentLife Is ShortHere And NowLive In The PresentLive For TodayPast And PresentTime OffPast PresentPast Present And FutureBloomingPast Present FutureSocial AnxietyAchieved SuccessLiving In The PastStop ProcrastinationLive In The NowPresent FutureFuture And PresentNew HorizonsCherish Every MomentRose GardenPostponingOne Life To LiveDeep MeaningRose PetalsEnjoy TodayInspirational FutureMagic Of LifeBeautiful RoseKeep PositivePutting Things OffEnjoying The MomentMagical Life
Book:How to stop worrying & start living
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“The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it. The systems that fail are those that rely on the permanency of human nature, and not on its growth and development. The error of Louis XIV was that he thought human nature would always be the same. The result of his error was the French Revolution. It was an admirable result.”

KnowsHumansGrowthNatureResultsQualityFailingHuman NatureRevolutionDevelopmentErrorsRelyRebelliousAdmirableFrench Revolution
Book:The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde
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“... In contrast to the "banality of evil," which posits that ordinary people can be responsible for the most despicable acts of cruelty and degradation of their fellows, I posit the "banality of heroism," which unfurls the banner of the heroic Everyman and Everywoman who heed the call to service to humanity when their time comes to act. When that bell rings, they will know that it rings for them. It sounds a call to uphold what is best in human nature that rises above the powerful pressures of Situation and System as the profound assertion of human dignity opposing evil.”

PeopleKnowsHumansHumanityEvilSoundPowerfulSituationHuman NatureHeroOrdinaryDignityPressureResponsibleFellowsProfoundRingsCrueltyHeroicContrastBellsHeroismOrdinary PeopleRise AboveAssertionOpposingHeedDegradationBeing ResponsibleHuman DignityBannerDespicableService To HumanityBanalityEveryman
Author:Philip Zimbardo
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“Would there not be the greatest reason to apprehend, that error in the first sentence would be the parent of error in the second sentence? That the strong bias of one decision would be apt to overrule the influence of any new lights, which might be brought to vary the complexion of another decision? Those, who know any thing of human nature, will not hesitate to answer these questions in the affirmative.”

KnowsFirstsHumansReasonLightMightWould BeStrongParentDecisionAnswersInfluenceHuman NatureErrorsSentencesBiasVaryAffirmativeComplexion
Book:The Origin of the Nation: Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Other Amendments, Federalist Papers & Common Sense: Creating America - Landmark Documents that Shaped a New Nation
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“We evolved. We have only to look at the pouting face of a young chimpanzee to laugh at its reflections of ourselves. We know that more then 98 percent of our genes are shared with the chimpanzee, but we feel the kinship directly when the furry baby puts up its arms to be held.”

KnowsFeelsLooksFacesYoungLaughingHuman NatureBabyArmsReflectionPercentGenesKinshipChimpanzeesFurryPouting
Book:Lucy's Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Human Evolution
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“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”

IfsKnowsWorldHumansDoeSaidStuffInterestBehindsTechnologyFashionHuman NatureDramaNewsIllusionEconomicsMagazinesPatheticPredictablePortalNewnessPolitics And EconomicsHe Said She Said
Author:Stewart Brand
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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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“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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“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.”

KnowsLifeHumansHuman NatureGardenTragedyRoseLive LifeTragicPresent MomentHorizonProcrastinationLive In The MomentHere And NowLive In The PresentPast And PresentTime OffPast PresentPast Present And FutureBloomingPast Present FutureSocial AnxietyAchieved SuccessLiving In The PastStop ProcrastinationLive In The NowPresent FutureFuture And PresentNew HorizonsRose GardenOne Life To LiveDeep MeaningRose PetalsInspirational FutureMagic Of LifeBeautiful RoseKeep PositivePutting Things Off
Book:How to stop worrying & start living
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“There is no need to invent an ego that is separate from the divine if our basic human nature is trusted. If we trust ourselves, we know how to avoid interfering with nature and how to live in harmony. When we know God as an unseen, loving, and accepting power at the heart of everything, allowing us to make our own choices, then God is a trusted part of our nature.”

IfsKnowsNeedsHumansHeartGodChoicesAcceptingKnow HowHuman NatureDivineEgoHarmonyAllowingTrustedInterfereUnseenKnowing God
Author:Wayne Dyer
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“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
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“Playing God is actually the highest expression of human nature. The urges to improve ourselves, to master our environment, and to set our children on the best path possible have been the fundamental driving forces of all of human history. Without these urges to ‘play God’, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist today.”

KnowsWorldHumansChildrenHas BeensPlayTodayForcePathEnvironmentHuman NatureExpressionMastersHighestOur ChildrenFundamentalsDrivingUrgesHuman HistoryOur EnvironmentDriving ForcePlaying God
Author:Ramez Naam
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“There are times when I, without willing it, mount to the height of contemplation; with my will I am drawn down from it because of the limitations of human nature and [find] safety in abasement. I know many things that are unknown to most men, yet I am more ignorant than all others. I rejoice because Christ, 'whom I have believed' (II Tim. 1:12), has bestowed on me an eternal and unshakable kingdom, yet I constantly weep as one who is unworthy of that which is above, and I cease not.”

KnowsMenHumansChristianChristHuman NatureWillingEternalSafetyCeaseKingdomsIgnorantLimitationHeightContemplationOrthodoxRejoiceUnworthyUnshakableAbasement
Author:Symeon the New Theologian
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“After all, I quite naturally want to live in order to fulfill my whole capacity for living, and not in order to fulfill my reasoning capacity alone, which is no more than some one-twentieth of my capacity for living. What does reason know? It knows only what it has managed to learn (and it may never learn anything else; that isn't very reassuring, but why not admit it?), while human nature acts as a complete entity, with all that is in it, consciously or unconsciously; and though it may be wrong, it's nevertheless alive.”

KnowsWantLifeHumansMayDoeReasonWholeOrderAliveHuman NatureCapacityLive LifeReasoningWhy NotEntityNeverthelessReassuring
Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
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