Home / Topics / Human Nature Quotes

Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

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.”

“Man is known to be a selfish, as well as a social being.”

Men Wells Social Known Human Nature Selfish Being Human Social Being

Book:Selected Writings of James Madison

Source: Selected Writings of James Madison

“Some critics accuse capitalism of being a selfish system, but the selfishness is not in capitalism - it is in human nature.”

Humans Human Nature Capitalism Critics Selfish Selfishness

Author:Dinesh D'Souza

“I think it's good to have your own selfish interests, whether it's liking chocolate ice cream or wanting a new car. It's just human nature is that. We have our own selfish interests. I think we have interests that go beyond our self to friends, to family first, maybe to friends, maybe to community. I think that's important to think about those spheres of influence that radiate from you.”

Thinking Important Interest Community Influence Car Human Nature Selfish Chocolate New Car

Author:Les Wexner

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.”

Source: Delphi Complete Works of Adam Smith (Illustrated)

“Some people think that evolutionary psychology claims to have discovered that human nature is selfish and wicked. But they are flattering the researchers and anyone who would claim to have discovered the opposite. No one needs a scientist to measure whether humans are prone to knavery. The question has been answered in the history books, the newspapers, the ethnographic record, and the letters to Ann Landers. But people treat it like an open question, as if someday science might discover that it's all a bad dream and we will wake up to find that it is human nature to love one another.”

“If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.”

People Ifs Thinking Men Inspirational Character Care Cases Human Nature Products Ought Take Care Selfish Serving Serving Others Cultivation Building Character

Book:Selected Addresses and Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson

Source: Selected Addresses and Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson

“The malignity that never forgets or forgives is found only in base and ignoble natures, whose aims are selfish, and whose means are indirect, cowardly, and treacherous.”

Mean Found Forget Human Nature Aim Forgiving Selfish Never Forget Cowardly Treacherous Indirect Ignoble

Book:Life and Campaigns of George B. McClellan, Major-General, U. S. Army

Source: Life and Campaigns of George B. McClellan, Major-General, U. S. Army

“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.”

“There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers...even if they are uncommon and do not come by the dozen. And yet these very same people can at times be boring, irritating, petulant, selfish, angry, or depressed. To avoid disillusionment with human nature, we must first give up our illusions about it.”