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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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“I also came to see that liberalism's superficial optimism concerning human nature caused it to overlook the fact that reason is darkened by sin. The more I thought about human nature the more I saw how our tragic inclination for sin causes us to use our minds to rationalize our actions. Liberalism failed to see that reason by itself is little more than an instrument to justify man's defensive ways of thinking. Reason, devoid of the purifying power of faith, can never free itself from distortions and rationalizations.”

ThinkingMenWayMindHumansLittlesReasonFactsUseActionCausesSinSawsHuman NatureOptimismInstrumentsLiberalismTragicJustifySuperficialInclinationOur ActionsWay Of ThinkingDistortionRationalizePurifying
Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:
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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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“It is our genetic nature as a species to believe as young children that our parents and elders are right. We watch them to see what's what. Later on we can judge for ourselves and rebel if need be, but when we're just months old, or a year or two, and a parent looks at us with impatience, or disgust, or disdain, or just leaves us there to cry and doesn't answer us even though we're longing to be embraced and nurtured, we assume that something must be wrong with us. Unfortunately, at that age it's impossible to think there might be something wrong with them.”

IfsThinkingNeedsYearsBelieveLooksChildrenTwoMightAgeYoungParentAnswersWatchesImpossibleHuman NatureSelf EsteemCryJudgingMonthsEmbraceLongingAssumingParentingSpeciesRebelDisgustingEldersImpatienceRaising ChildrenYoung ChildrenDisdainBad Parenting
Author:Jean Liedloff
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“George Orwell was right. There's no greater genius as far as I'm concerned in terms of understanding human nature. I think that a lot of people just believe anything you tell them, and no matter what it is, they just go along with the program. They're perfectly happy to take their pill every day and do what they're told, and work and buy things, and work and buy things, and stay out of any complex emotional situations. And whatever the authorities tell them to do, they do, and whatever the authorities say is the truth, they believe is the truth.”

PeopleThinkingBelieveHumansMatterUnderstandingTermSituationGreaterHuman NatureEmotionalGeniusAuthorityConcernedProgramNo Matter WhatComplexesPillsJust Believe
Author:George Lucas
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“It is the assumption of this book that there is a typical human nature. It is the aim of this book to seek it. Just like a surgeon, a psychiatrist can make all sorts of basic assumptions when a patient lies down upon the couch. He can assume that the patient knows what it means to love, to envy, to trust, to think, to speak, to fear, to smile, to bargain, to covet, to dream, to remember, to sing, to quarrel, to lie. The 'smile' of a baboon is a threat; the smile of a man is a sign of pleasure: it is human nature, the world over.”

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Author:Matt Ridley
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“I think that the desire to be cruel and to hurt (with words because any other way might be dangerous to ourself) is part of human nature. Parties are battles (most parties), a conversation is a duel (often). Everybody's trying to hurt first, to get in the dig that will make him or her feel superior, feel triumph.”

ThinkingWayFeelsTryingFirstsHumansMightDesireHurtPartyDangerousHuman NatureBattleConversationSuperiorsTriumphUnkindness
Book:The letters of Jean Rhys
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“I don't think RADA wanted me, actually. When I was at Oxford I had a boyfriend at Central [School of Speech and Drama] and it looked like the most fantastic life, but I think not going makes you more free. Nothing can teach you what it's like to work on a film set, and the best education there can be for an actor is to walk up the street and observe human nature.”

ThinkingHumansWantedSchoolFilmActorsWalksTeachStreetsHuman NatureDramaSpeechFantasticOxfordFilm SetBest EducationFantastic Life
Author:Rosamund Pike
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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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“We have no participation in Being, because all human nature is ever midway between being born and dying, giving off only a vague image and shadow of itself, and a weak and uncertain opinion. And if you chance to fix your thoughts on trying to grasp its essence, it would be neither more nor less than if your tried to clutch water.”

IfsThinkingGivingTryingHumansWould BeWaterBornChanceOpinionDyingHuman NatureShadowWeakEssenceThoughtfulUncertainVagueParticipationClutchMidway
Book:The Essays
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“Love is like some fresh spring, first a stream and then a river, changing its aspect and its nature as it flows to plunge itself in some boundless ocean, where restricted natures only find monotony, but where great souls are engulfed in endless contemplation.”

ThinkingLoveFirstsSoulLove IsHuman NatureOceanSpringAspectFlowRiversEndlessContemplationStreamsThoughtfulBoundlessPlungeLove Is LikeMonotonyGreat Souls
Book:The Magic Skin: Or The Wild Ass's Skin
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“I'm not afraid to write about madness. I always figure that whatever most embarrasses you is something that everyone can relate to, really...because we're just not that different. So if you think, 'Oh my god, this is so embarrassing. I can't possibly talk about that,' and you write about it, the audience is gonna be like, 'that happened to me!”

IfsThinkingWritingI CanDifferentRealityCommunityAudienceComedyGenerationsHappenedHuman NatureFiguresMadnessUnityRelateNot AfraidEmbarrassing
Author:David Sedaris
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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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“Don't think of yourself as an intestinal tract and tangle of nerves in the skull, that will not work unless you drink coffee. Think of yourself as incandescent power, illuminated perhaps and forever talked to by God and his messengers.... Think if Tiffany's made a mosquito, how wonderful we would think it was!”

IfsThinkingMadeForeverWonderfulHuman NatureDrinkCoffeeNervesThink Of YouSkullsMessengersMosquitoesTiffany's
Book:If You Want to Write
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“I...understand that age is kind of awesome. I am fortunate enough to know women like Gloria Steinem - who I think is one of the most stunning women on the planet - [who] doesn't touch her face. Diane Keaton, Annette Bening - all of these fabulous, fearless women who are flawless - they embrace it!”

ThinkingKnowsKindEnoughWisdomRealityAgeFacesScienceNatureLeadershipGenerationsFashionHuman NaturePlanetsHealthEmbraceIndividualityIdeologyFearlessFortunateFabulousStunningFlawlessGloria
Author:Jennifer Aniston
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“I'll tell you...why Wonder Woman worked. Or Bionic Woman. Or any of those [shows] really. It was because it wasn't about brawn...it was about brains. And yes, she happened to be beautiful, she happened to be kind of extraordinary in some way, but she wasn't a guy. And I think that, [now], they...put out a female hero, and all they are doing is changing the costume from a man to a woman...they're not showcasing any of the tremendous dichotomies than women possess in term of softness and toughness, sweetness and grit, inner and outer strength.”

ThinkingMenWayKindShowsRealityBeautifulGuyTermCommunityLeadershipBrainWonderHistoryGenerationsHappenedFashionHuman NatureHeroFemaleStrategyExtraordinaryIndividualityIdeologyBe KindSweetnessCostumesGritToughnessSoftnessDichotomyWonder WomanBionics
Author:Lynda Carter
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“America is just so weird in what they think is right and wrong. Like, I was watching 'Breaking Bad' the other day, and they were cooking meth. I could literally cook meth because of that show. It's a how-to. And then they bleeped out the word 'f__k'. And I'm like, really? They killed a guy, and disintegrated his body in acid, but you're not allowed to say 'f__k'? It's like when they bleeped 'molly' at the VMAs. Look what I'm doing up here right now, and you're going to bleep out 'molly'?”

ThinkingLooksShowsWisdomBodyRealityAmericaGuyPoliticsCommunityLeadershipJusticeDemocracyComedyGenerationsHuman NaturePolicyRight NowEthicsCookingStrategyHuman RightsIndividualitySocial MediaIdeologyCooksFree SpeechCivilityAcidPartisanship
Author:Miley Cyrus
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“I don't think women can have it all. I just don't think so...My husband and I have been married for 34 years, and we have two daughters. And every day you have to make a decision about whether you are going to be a wife or a mother. In fact, many times during the day you have to make those decisions...We co-opted our families to help us. We plan our lives meticulously so we can be decent parents. But if you ask our daughters, I'm not sure they will say that I've been a good mom.”

IfsThinkingYearsHas BeensTwoFactsHelpingWisdomRealityMotherAsksParentCommunityLeadershipWorkDecisionFamilyOur LivesWifePlansGenerationsHuman NatureMomHusbandMarriedDaughterUnityIdeologyOur FamilyNot SureDecentMy HusbandOur DaughterTwo DaughtersGood Mom
Author:Indra Nooyi
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“It is easy enough to say, Be true to your values. But what if your values are irrational? Or what if the virtues you have committed yourself to are so much against human nature that they cannot be practiced consistently? Be careful of what you accept as your code of morality. Think carefully about whether its tenets serve your life and well being. Exercise critical judgment. Realize how much is at stake-your life, your happiness, your self-esteem.”

IfsThinkingHumansWellsSelfEnoughValuesEasyRealizingAcceptingVirtueHuman NatureSelf EsteemMoralityExerciseJudgmentCommittedCarefulCriticalEsteemBeing TrueWell BeingCodeWhat IfStakesBe CarefulConsistentlyIrrational
Author:Nathaniel Branden
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