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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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Human Nature Quotes

“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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“In fact, the libertarian would reason that the fact that human nature is a mixture of both good and evil provides its own particular argument in his favor. For if man is such a mixture, then the best societal framework is surely one in which evil is discouraged and the good encouraged. The libertarian maintains that the existence of the State apparatus provides a ready, swift channel for the exercise of evil, since the rulers of the State are thereby legitimated and can wield compulsion in ways that no one else is permitted to do.”

IfsMenWayHumansStatesReasonFactsEvilExistenceHuman NatureParticularReadyExerciseArgumentLibertarianFavorsGood And EvilRulersMixturesDiscouragedFrameworkCompulsion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Kant regards the universalizability test for maxims as focused on a very special sort of situation: one where the agent is tempted to make an exception to a recognized duty out of self-preference. The universalizability test is supposed help the agent to see, in a particular case of moral judgment, that self-preference is not a satisfactory reason for exempting yourself from a duty you recognize. Kant thinks, as a matter of human nature, that this situation arises often enough and that we need a canon of judgment to guard against it.”

ThinkingNeedsHumansSelfMatterReasonEnoughHelpingSituationMoralCasesSpecialHuman NatureParticularDutyJudgmentTestsRegardFocusedAriseAgentsExceptionPreferenceTemptedMaximsCanonMoral Judgment
Author:Allen W. Wood
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“As every inquiry which regards religion is of the utmost importance, there are two questions in particular which challenge our attention, to wit, that concerning its foundation in reason, and that concerning it origin in human nature.”

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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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“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”

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Book:Ender's Game
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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.”

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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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“The constitution of human nature" teaches us not to expect "that the persons, entrusted with the administration of the affairs of the particular members of a confederacy, will at all times be ready, with perfect good humor, and an unbiased regard to the public weal, to execute the resolutions of decrees of the general authority." "This tendency is not difficult to be accounted for," Publius argues, "It has its origin in the love of power.”

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Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“Temporary delusions, prejudices, excitements, and objects have irresistible influence in mere questions of policy. And the policy of one age may ill suit the wishes or the policy of another. The constitution is not subject to such fluctuations. It is to have a fixed, uniform, permanent construction. It should be, so far at least as human infirmity will allow, not dependent upon the passions or parties of particular times, but the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.”

ShouldHumansMayAgePassionWishPartyInfluenceSubjectsHuman NaturePolicyObjectsParticularConstitutionPrejudiceMereIllYesterdaySuitsPermanentFixedExcitementDependentDelusionTemporaryConstructionUniformsIrresistibleInfirmityFluctuation
Book:Commentaries on the Constitution of the Un. States: With a Prelim. Review of the Constitut. History of the Colonies and States, Bef. the Adoption of the Constitution
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“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.”

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Book:Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior
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“The ordinary politician has a very low estimate of human nature. In his daily life he comes into contact chiefly with persons who want to get something or to avoid something. Beyond this circle of seekers after privileges, individuals and organized minorities, he is aware of a large unorganized, indifferent mass of citizens who ask nothing in particular and rarely complain. The politician comes after a while to think that the art of politics is to satisfy the seekers after favors and to mollify the inchoate mass with noble sentiments and patriotic phrases.”

ThinkingWantHumansPersonsArtAsksPoliticsIndividualHuman NatureParticularCitizensPoliticianMassLowsOrdinaryPrivilegeNobleComplainingFavorsCirclesContactPhrasesOrganizedMinoritiesDaily LifePatrioticSentimentsIndifferentSeekers
Book:The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy
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