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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“People who think of themselves as tough-minded and realistic, among them influential political leaders and businessmen as well as go-getters and hustlers of smaller caliber, tend to take it for granted that human nature is selfish and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive. According to this philosophy, the basic law by which man must live, in spite of his surface veneer of civilization, is the law of the jungle. The "fittest" are those who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness.”

PeopleThinkingMenHumansWellsMayPhilosophyLawPoliticalLife IsForceLeaderStruggleHuman NatureCivilizationToughSurfaceSelfishSuperiorsGrantedSpiteRealisticBusinessmanJungleCunningInfluentialPolitical LeadersCaliberRuthlessnessVeneerLife Is A Struggle
Author:S. I. Hayakawa
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“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.”

PeopleHumansMayProblemCertainInterestTakenHuman NatureUniversalWideBackgroundsAppealsConsiderationCongregationDiversificationHuman Problems
Book:A Guide to Confident Living
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“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
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“Though business conditions may change, corporations and securities may change, and financial institutions and regulations may change, human nature remains the same. Thus the important and difficult part of sound investment, which hinges upon the investor's own temperament and attitude, is not much affected by the passing years.”

YearsHumansMayImportantDifficultSoundAttitudeConditionsSecurityHuman NatureInstitutionsRemainsInvestmentFinancialPassingPassingsCorporationsAffectedInvestorsRegulationTemperamentHingesFinancial Institutions
Book:The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel
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“There is that in the soul of man which must respond to the highest in virtue. It may not respond at once. Human nature can easily be over-faced by examples too remote and austere. Moreover, human nature can easily deny God because the whole race has long been in rebellion against Him. Yet there is that in human nature which calls out to the supreme examples of virtue: owns, as it were, the intention of God who made it, and feels the unmistakable homesickness of the soul.”

MenFeelsHumansMayLongMadeSoulWholeRaceVirtueHuman NatureExampleHighestIntentionDenySupremeMade ItRebellionHomesickness
Author:Bill Vaughan
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“The highest greatness, surviving time and stone, is that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, generals and admirals, with the pomp of court and the circumstance of war, in the lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers of truth, though poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates human nature, and teaches the rights of man, so that "a government of the people, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth;" such a harbinger can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads co-extensive with the cause they served so well.”

PeopleMenHumansWellsMayWarSoulGovernmentEarthCausesPoorTeachRightsHuman NatureExampleGreatnessCircumstancesFameHighestStonesSightCourtForgottenSpreadDisappearSurvivingPioneersCabinetsMonarchsLapsesRenownAdmiralHarbinger
Author:Charles Sumner
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“May we not have a picture of Christ, who has a true body? By no means; because, though he has a true body and a reasonable soul, John 1:14, yet his human nature subsists in his divine person, which no picture can represent, Psalm 45:2. Why ought all pictures of Christ to be abominated by Christians? Because they are downright lies, representing no more than the picture of a mere man: whereas, the true Christ is God-man”

MenHumansMayMeanPersonsSoulBodyChristianLyingChristHuman NatureDivineOughtMereReasonableRepresentingPsalms
Author:James Fisher
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“Of all the systems - if indeed a bundle of contradictions and absurdities may be called a system - which human nature in its moments of intoxication has produced, that which men have contrived with a view to forming the minds and regulating the conduct of women, is perhaps the most completely absurd.”

IfsMenMindHumansMayMomentsViewsHuman NatureAbsurdContradictionSexismAbsurdityIntoxicationBundles
Book:Appeal to the men of Great Britain in behalf of women
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“To the love of pleasure we may therefore ascribe most of the agreeable, to the love of action we may attribute most of the useful and respectable, qualifications. The character in which both the one and the other should be united and harmonised would seem to constitute the most perfect idea of human nature.”

ShouldHumansMayIdeasCharacterSeemsActionPerfectPleasureUnitedHistoryHuman NatureAttributesRespectableRoman EmpireQualifications
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can, if they like, encroach, is far greater, for the weaker are always asking for equality and justice, but the stronger care for none of these things.”

IfsKnowsMayCareDifficultJusticeGreaterHuman NatureTheoryEqualDifficultyStrongerAskingPracticalsEquality And Justice
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)
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“Those who merely possess the goods of fortune may be haughty and insolent; . . . they try to imitate the great-souled man without being really like him, and only copy him in what they can, reproducing his contempt for others but not his virtuous conduct. For the great-souled man is justified in despising other people - his estimates are correct; but most proud men have no good ground for their pride.”

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Author:Aristotle
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“All are agreed that the various moral qualities are in a sense bestowed by nature: we are just, and capable of temperance, and brave, and possessed of the other virtues from the moment of our birth. But nevertheless we expect to find that true goodness is something different, and that the virtues in the true sense come to belong to us in another way. For even children and wild animals possess the natural dispositions, yet without Intelligence these may manifestly be harmful.”

WayMayChildrenDifferentMomentsNaturalAnimalQualityMoralVirtueHuman NatureBirthGoodnessCapableBraveVariousPossessedNeverthelessDispositionAnother WayTemperanceWild Animal
Book:The Nicomachean ethics
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“It is one of those problems of human nature, which may be noted down, but not solved; - although Ralph felt no remorse at that moment for his conduct towards the innocent, true-hearted girl; although his libertine clients had done precisely what he had expected, precisely what he most wished, and precisely what would tend most to his advantage, still he hated them for doing it, from the very bottom of his soul.”

HumansMayStillsSoulDoneMomentsCharacterProblemGirlFeltInterestingHuman NatureAdvantageBottomExpectedInnocentHatedThat MomentClientsRemorseHeartedInteresting CharactersLibertine
Book:The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby ... With a Frontispiece from a Painting by T. Webster
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“Wherefore, as I have said to you, I, God, have become man, and man has become God by the union of My Divine Nature with your human nature. This greatness is given in general to all rational creatures, but, among these I have especially chosen My ministers for the sake of your salvation, so that, through them, the Blood of the humble and immaculate Lamb, My only-begotten Son, may be administered to you.”

MenHumansMaySaidGivenBloodHuman NatureGreatnessDivineSonCreaturesSalvationUnionsSakeHumbleChosenRationalMinistersLambsDivine NatureImmaculate
Author:St. Catherine of Siena
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“A penniless man who has no ties to bind him is master of himself at any rate, but a luckless wretch who is in love no longer belongs to himself, and may not take his own life. Love makes us almost sacred in our own eyes; it is the life of another that we revere within us; then and so begins for us the cruelest trouble of all.”

MenLoveMayEyeSufferingTroubleHuman NatureMastersSacredRateTiesLove Life
Book:The Magic Skin: Or The Wild Ass's Skin
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“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
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“In contrast to our own social environment which brings out different aspects of human nature and often demonstrated that behavior which occurs almost invariably in individuals within our society is nevertheless due not to original nature but to social environment; and a homogeneous and simple development of the individual may be studied.”

HumansMayDifferentIndividualSocialSimpleEnvironmentHuman NatureDevelopmentBehaviorAspectOriginalsDuesOur SocietyContrastNeverthelessHomogeneousSocial Environment
Book:Growing Up in New Guinea: A Comparative Study of Primitive Education
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“It is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces society, and indeed the whole of human nature and consciousness today. Moreover, it may turn out that such a form of free exchange of ideas and information is of fundamental relevance for transforming culture and freeing it of destructive misinformation, so that creativity can be liberated.”

WayHumansWellsMayIdeasWholeTodayFacesFormTurnsCultureConsciousnessCreativityHuman NatureInformationCrisisFundamentalsDialogueDestructiveTransformingRelevanceLiberatedMisinformationInvestigating
Book:Science, Order, and Creativity
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“Religion and science, for example, are often though to be opponents, but as I have shown, the insights of ancient religions and of modern science are both needed to reach a full understanding of human nature and the conditions of human satisfaction. The ancients may have known little about biology, chemistry, physics, but many were good psychologists.”

HumansMayLittlesUnderstandingKnownModernConditionsHuman NatureExampleNeededAncientSatisfactionInsightPhysicsOpponentsBiologyChemistryScience And ReligionPsychologistModern Science
Book:The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
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“In studying language we can discover many basic properties of this cognitive structure, its organization, and also the genetic predispositions that provide the foundation for its development. So in this respect, linguistics, first of all, tries to characterize a major feature of human cognitive organization. And second, I think it may provide a suggestive model for the study of other cognitive systems. And the collection of these systems is one aspect of human nature.”

ThinkingTryingFirstsHumansMayLanguageStudyHuman NatureDevelopmentMajorsModelsAspectOrganizationFoundationStructurePropertyFeaturesCollectionsCognitiveLinguistics
Author:Noam Chomsky
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“The strongest argument against totalitarianism may be a recognition of a universal human nature; that all humans have innate desires for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The doctrine of the blank slate... is a totalitarian's dream.”

HumansMayDreamDesireLibertyHuman NatureArgumentUniversalPursuitDoctrineRecognitionStrongestBlankInnatePursuit Of HappinessTotalitarianismSlateLife Liberty And The Pursuit Of HappinessBlank Slates
Author:Steven Pinker
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“I can easily believe it. Women of that class have great opportunities, and if they are intelligent may be well worth listening to. Such varieites of human nature as they are in the habit of witnessing! And it is not merely in its follies, that they are read; for they see it occasionally under every circumstance that can be most interesting or affecting. What instances must pass before them of ardent, disinterested, self-denying attachment, of heroism, fortitude, patience, resignation-- of all the sacrifices that ennoble us most. A sick chamber may often furnish the worth of volumes.”

IfsBelieveHumansWellsMayI CanSelfOpportunityInterestingClassSacrificeHuman NatureListeningHabitCircumstancesSickIntelligentInstanceFollyAttachmentHeroismVolumeFortitudeChamberMost InterestingResignationArdentGreat OpportunityDisinterestedAnne Elliot
Author:Jane Austen
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“Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth.”

PeopleIfsHumansMayChildrenLongEarthNatureGenerationsHuman NatureRootsFortuneSeriesStrikesMy ChildrenSoilWornPotatoesWorn OutBirthplace
Author:Nathaniel Hawthorne
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“Here and there, human nature may be great in times of trial, but generally speaking it is its weakness and not its strength that appears in a sick chamber; it is selfishness and impatience rather than generosity and fortitude, that one hears of. There is so little real friendship in the world! – and unfortunately' (speaking low and tremulously) 'there are so many who forget to think seriously till it is almost too late.”

ThinkingWorldHumansMayLittlesRealForgetHuman NatureLateLowsWeaknessSickTrialsGenerositySelfishnessToo LateFortitudeChamberHere And ThereImpatienceReal Friendship
Book:Persuasion In Modern English
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