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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“Hypocrisy itself does great honor, or rather justice, to religion, and tacitly acknowledges it to be an ornament to human nature. The hypocrite would not be at so much pains to put on the appearance of virtue, if he did not know it was the most proper and effectual means to gain the love and esteem of mankind.”

IfsKnowsHumansMeanDoePainJusticeVirtueMankindHuman NatureHonorGainsAppearanceEsteemAcknowledgeHypocrisyHypocriteOrnaments
Book:The spectator
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“The theory of Reincarnation, which originated in India, has been welcomed in other countries. Without doubt, it is one of the most sensible and satisfying of all religions that mankind has conceived. This, like the others, comes from the best qualities of human nature, even if in this, as in the others, its adherents sometimes fail to carry out the principles in their lives.”

IfsHumansHas BeensCountrySometimesQualityPrinciplesDoubtFailingMankindHuman NatureTheoryIndiaSatisfyingSensibleOther CountriesReincarnationIncarnation
Author:Luther Burbank
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“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

IfsInspirationalDoeCharacterFaithHumanityHopeLosesVirtueSuccessfulMankindHuman NatureHonestyIntegrityOceanDirtyHave FaithHumankindSuccessful PeopleIncapableSuicidalHumanity And SocietyNon ViolenceSuccessful BusinessPeace And LoveGreat FaithHuman PersonalityOcean SeaOceans And SeasFaith In HumanityHuman CompassionPersonality TypesShared HumanityDirty MindsLosing FaithDrops In The OceanDirty SecretsBlue OceanDirty HandsHumanity And NatureDirty World
Book:The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi
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“With reason, then, the common opinion of mankind, little affected by the few dissentients who have contended for the opposite view, has found in the careful study of nature, and in the laws of nature, the foundations of the division of property, and the practice of all ages has consecrated the principle of private ownership, as being pre-eminently in conformity with human nature, and as conducing in the most unmistakable manner to the peace and tranquility of human existence.”

HumansLittlesReasonWisdomAgeLawFoundPoliticsViewsCommonExistenceOpinionPrinciplesPracticeEconomyStudyMankindHuman NatureOppositesFoundationPropertyCarefulLiberalismAffectedDivisionConformityOwnershipTranquilityLaws Of NatureHuman ExistencePeace And Tranquility
Author:Pope Leo XIII
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“Most men appear to think that the art of despotic government is statesmanship, and what men affirm to be unjust and inexpedient in their own case they are not ashamed of practicing towards others; they demand just rule for themselves, but where other men are concerned they care nothing about it. Such behavior is irrational; unless the one party is, and the other is not, born to serve, in which case men have a right to command, not indeed all their fellows, but only those who are intended to be subjects; just as we ought not to hunt mankind, whether for food or sacrifice . .”

ThinkingMenArtGovernmentCareBornPartyCasesSacrificeSubjectsMankindHuman NatureOughtDemandBehaviorConcernedFellowsCommandAshamedIrrationalUnjustHuntsStatesmanshipCommand Not
Author:Aristotle
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“Nor need it cause surprise that things disagreeable to the good man should seem pleasant to some men; for mankind is liable to many corruptions and diseases, and the things in question are not really pleasant, but only pleasant to these particular persons, who are in a condition to think them so.”

ThinkingMenNeedsShouldPersonsSeemsCausesConditionsMankindHuman NatureParticularDiseaseSurpriseCorruptionPleasantGood ManLiableDisagreeable
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“Adolescence is the time to enlarge the natural sentiments of pity, friendship, and generosity, the time to develop an understanding of human nature and the varieties of human character, the time to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of all men and to study the history of mankind.”

MenHumansCharacterTimeUnderstandingNaturalStudyMankindStrengthHuman NatureWeaknessGainsInsightPityVarietyGenerositySentimentsAdolescenceStrength And Weakness
Book:Adolescence: The Farewell to Childhood
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“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.”

MenHumansFactsAgeNationsInterestViewsCommonPrinciplesSacrificeMankindHuman NatureSucceedCapableBuiltAdvantageAccountsConstitutionInstitutionsVainConvinceMaximsGoverningCommon GoodDepravityConvince Us
Author:George Washington
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“The introduction of the Christian religion into the world has produced an incalculable change in history. There had previously been only a history of nations--there is now a history of mankind; and the idea of an education of human nature as a whole.--an education the work of Jesus Christ Himself--is become like a compass for the historian, the key of history, and the hope of nations.”

WorldHumansIdeasWholeChristianJesusNationsChristChristianityMankindHuman NatureKeysJesus ChristHistorianCompassIntroductionChanges In History
Book:History of the Great Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in Germany, Switzerland, Etc
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“Human nature itself is evermore an advocate for liberty. There is also in human nature a resentment of injury, and indignation against wrong. A love of truth and a veneration of virtue. These amiable passions, are the "latent spark" . . . If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?”

PeopleIfsHumansFeelingsPassionUnderstandingDifferencesLibertyPrinciplesVirtueSeeingMankindHuman NatureCapableVicesInjurySparksResentmentFreedom And LibertyFreedom LibertyIndignationLatentAmiableVenerationEvermoreAmerican LibertyTrue And False
Book:Novanglus and Massachusettensis; or, political essays, published in ... 1774 and 1775, on the principal points of controversy, between Great Britain and her colonies; the former by John Adams ... the latter by Jonathan Sewall [or rather, Daniel Leonard] ... To which are added a number of letters lately written by President Adams to the Hon. William Tudor, etc
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“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
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“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”

LoveBelieveWarRealityTruthFaithHumanityI BelievePeaceBlackFreedomViewsAcceptingMankindHuman NatureMonthsKingsRacismFinalsWordsBoundsRefuseI Believe InOptimisticPeacefulAfrican AmericanTragicUnconditional LoveBrotherhoodAmerican DreamMidnightUnconditionalBlack HistoryBrightnessPeace WarPeace And LoveBeliveRacial DiscriminationBlack History MonthUnarmedInternational PeaceBlack History Month InspirationalBrotherhood Of ManUnconditional AcceptanceKings SpeechFinal WordsWorld Peace DayDaybreakKings And LoveBlack History InspirationalBlack ChurchAfrican American LoveBlack InspirationalBlack RacismPeace With OthersRacism And PrejudiceDiscrimination And RacismEnding RacismFlotsamBrotherhood And PeaceTruth Will PrevailTrue Brotherhood
Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
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“What is a Poet? He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them.”

MenHumansDoeSoulSpiritUniversePassionCommonGreaterMankindHuman NaturePoetEnthusiasmSupposed To BeRejoiceContemplatingTendernessSensibilityComprehensiveLivelyVolitionSpirit Of Life
Book:Poems
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“Mankind are so much the same, in all times and places, that history informs us of nothing new or strange in this particular. Its chief use is only to discover the constant and universal principles of human nature.”

HumansUsePrinciplesHistoryMankindHuman NatureParticularStrangeUniversalConstantAll TimeChiefsUs HistoryNothing New
Book:An inquiry concerning human understanding. A dissertation on the passions. An inquiry concerning the principles of morals. The natural history of religion
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“Just as Darwin discovered the law of evolution in organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of evolution in human history; he discovered the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of idealogy [sic], that mankind must first of all eat and drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, religion, art etc.”

FirstsHumansArtFactsLawSimpleMankindHuman NatureEvolutionDrinkPursueEtcClothingsShelterHuman HistoryConcealedScience Religion
Author:Friedrich Engels
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“In all general questions which become the subjects of discussion, there are always some truths mixed with falsehoods. I confess, there is danger where men are capable of holding two offices. Take mankind in general, they are vicious, their passions may be operated upon. We have been taught to reprobate the danger of influence in the British government, without duly reflecting how far it was necessary to support a good government. We have taken up many ideas upon trust, and at last, pleased with our own opinions, establish them as undoubted truths.”

MenMayHas BeensTwoIdeasGovernmentLastsPassionOpinionSupportTakenInfluenceSubjectsMankindHuman NatureDangerTaughtOfficeCapableBritishDiscussionFalsehoodViciousReflectingBritish Government
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“It is to the credit of human nature that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates.”

HumansPlayHateMankindHuman NatureCreditSelfishnessHumankindScarletHatred And Anger
Book:Nathaniel Hawthorne: Collected Novels: Scarlet Letter / House of Seven Gables / Blithedale Romance / Fanshawe / Marble Faun: Library of America #10
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“And you will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to Mankind, had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.”

WorldHumansLastsMankindStageHuman NatureExampleCapableDignityPerfectionOccasionsGloriousThis DayPosterity
Book:The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private
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“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.”

MindHumansLongDesirePassionInterestMankindSecurityHuman NaturePositionDutySceneFameRewardsAccomplishContraryQuittingStrongestRulingIncentivesFidelityUndertakingsRuling Passion
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“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.”

LittlesPassionInterestJusticeMankindHuman NatureBrokenLessonsObligationImpulseConsiderationDependenceSanctionsTreatiesPeace And JusticeImpunityGood FaithBeing Broken
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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