Quotessence
Home / Topics / Human Nature Quotes

Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

Related topics

MenPeopleIfsThinkingWorldMayWantWayKnowsHas BeensBelieveCharacterHuman BeingsMankindNeedsSelfInspirationalMeanWellsReasonDoeLawShouldTryingPersonsSeemsTwoDifferentGivingHumanityLongRealityLittlesPrinciplesUnderstandingFactsFeelsEvilKindWarMadeAnimalMindFirstsInterestLifeHeartLooksIdeasNaturalPassionDesirePoliticalSoulCommunitySidesVirtueArtCommonGovernmentMightRealSocialHappinessSpiritStudyActionAgeConditionsFeelingsFormIndividualSometimesWisdomWritingEndsExistenceFoundLanguagePleasureSpiritualViewsBornChangeDivineForceGivenIndividualityJusticeLiteratureQualityShowsWholeGreaterHateMatterMomentsPhilosophyPoliticsSciencemore

Human Nature Quotes

“The area between the nose and the chin, the subject of kissing and the vehicle for speech, is perhaps even more known and set upon than the eyes. The mouth is also riddled with a complex interweaving of folds, curves, flats and lost-and-found edges. These nuances are needed by a perceptive person who might try to understand human nature.”

TryingHumansPersonsMightEyeFoundLostKnownSubjectsHuman NatureNeededKissingSpeechMouthsAreasComplexesEdgesNosesFlatsVehicleCurvesFoldsChinsNuancePortraitureLost And Found
Author:Robert Genn
Create image

“If we have system in which government is in a position to give large favor - it's human nature to try to get this favor - whether those people are large enterprises, or whether they're small businesses like farmers, or whether they're representatives of any other special group. The only way to prevent that is to force them to engage in competition one with the other.”

PeopleIfsWayGivingTryingHumansGovernmentForceGroupsSpecialHuman NaturePositionCompetitionFavorsEnterpriseFarmersRepresentativesSmall Business
Author:Milton Friedman
Create image

“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
Create image

“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.”

PeopleMenTryingMayHuman NaturePrideProudFortuneGoodsCopiesContemptBeing RealVirtuousJustifiedHaughtyInsolentProud ManReproducing
Author:Aristotle
Create image

“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
Create image

“Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it's not that simple... Real-life kings had real-life problems to deal with... My people who are trying to rule don't have an easy time of it. Just having good intentions doesn't make you a wise king.”

PeopleIfsMenTryingLooksRealHardPhilosophyProblemRealityEasyLeadershipSimpleAnswersDealsLordWiseLandHuman NatureKingsIntentionRingsReal LifeAdmireIdeologyGood ManRulingMedievalGood Intentions
Author:George R. R. Martin
Create image

“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
Create image

“Just as the commander of an army pitches his camp, studies the strength and defenses of a fortress, and then attacks it on its weakest side, in like manner, the enemy of our human nature studies from all sides our theological, cardinal, and moral virtues. Wherever he finds us weakest and most in need regarding our eternal salvation, he attacks and tries to take us by storm.”

NeedsTryingHumansSidesMoralEnemyVirtueStudyHuman NatureEternalArmySalvationStormDefenseCampsCommandersTheologicalCardinalsFortressesMoral Virtues
Author:Ignatius of Loyola
Create image

“We cannot hope to change human nature. There will always be cranks and conspiracy theorists among us. But we can try to improve things - we don't have to accept the debasement of civil discourse or civic decline. We can take steps to ensure that the lunatic fringe remains on the fringe and stops bleeding into the base and then poisoning the mainstream”

TryingHumansAcceptingStepsHuman NatureRemainsConspiracyMainstreamDeclineDiscourseFringeBleedingCivicsLunaticPoisoningTheoristsCrank
Author:John Avlon
Create image

“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
Create image

“Communism is an aspiration, an aspiration is an ideal, a dream, a longing of something that would be perfect, but hard to build because it has to clash with human nature and against the egotism of humans and the egotism of the elites which usually try to guarantee their own interests above those of their nations and of their own people. But they are the ones that prevail because they have the economic power, the political power and the military power.”

PeopleTryingHumansHardDreamWould BePoliticalNationsInterestPerfectEconomicMilitaryHuman NatureIdealsLongingCommunismAspirationGuaranteesElitesEgotismClashPolitical PowerEconomic PowerMilitary Power
Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
Create image

“There's something in human nature, the trying-to-get-on-with-it quality of people, the struggle to maintain or keep the show going can be exhausting. It just seems like that element of trying to move forward while things are breaking down... Obviously, it's always been the backdrop for a lot of great literature and great cinematic characters, but aside from that, I'm just drawn to it because that feels honest to me.”

PeopleTryingCharacterMovingLiteratureQualityStruggleHonestHuman NatureMoving ForwardBreaking DownGreat Literature
Author:Greg Kinnear
Create image

“When so many of our dreams had come true and yet I still saw that so many of my friends were in a lot of pain... I saw their pain from a different perspective and realized that I can't just sing my way out of all this suffering. I have to try to understand human nature and myself and the nature of suffering and a lot of these other issues on a deeper level.”

TryingDifferentDreamPainSufferingHuman NaturePerspectiveMy WayDifferent Perspective
Author:Jeff Mangum
Create image

“I try to love my neighbor as myself but I'm not trying to be a people pleaser. Sometimes that's hard, because my human nature is to want people to be happy with me. But sometimes I feel my convictions are so great that it would be compromising the truth if I didn't do that. So sometimes it's a struggle to say, "This is what I think; this is what I believe, and if you don't agree with me, oh well." The hardest thing for people to accept is the gay-affirming issue. It's hard for people to agree to disagree on that one.”

PeopleThinkingTryingBelieveSometimesI BelieveAcceptingStruggleHuman NatureAgreeConvictionNeighborCompromiseDisagreeOh Well
Author:Jay Bakker
Create image

“No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have the same basic human needs and concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples. That is human nature.”

WorldWantNeedsTryingHumansMatterSufferingIndividualHuman BeingsDestinyHuman NatureConcernNo Matter WhatHuman RightsDetermineHuman NeedsBasic Human Needs
Author:Dalai Lama
Create image

“There's an aspect of human nature in which we want to think we're better than somebody else. They're a different color. They speak a different language. They have a different name for the Creator. Whatever it is, that makes it okay for me to hate them, to try to get some of their land or some of their resources.”

ThinkingWantTryingHumansDifferentHateNamesSpeakLanguageLandHuman NatureColorResourcesAspectOkayCreatorDifferent LanguagesDifferent ColorsDifferent Names
Author:John Denver
Create image

“I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling, that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized world. I am trying to make art that relates to the deepest and most mythic concerns of human kind and I believe that, at this moment of history, feminism is humanism.”

PeopleWorldTryingBelieveHumansKindArtRealMomentsFeelingsHumanityI BelieveHistoryFeminismHuman NatureLimitsConcernEmbraceStriveHumanismFeministI Believe InConnectedMythAlternativesRelateHumanistExtendingArt WorldReal HumanDeepness
Author:Judy Chicago
Create image

“If human nature does alter it will be because individuals manage to look at themselves in a new way. Here and there people - a very few people, but a few novelists are among them - are trying to do this. Every institution and vested interest in against such a search: organized religion, the state, the family in its economic aspect, have nothing to gain, and it is only when outward prohibitions weaken that it can proceed: history conditions it to that extent.”

PeopleIfsWayTryingHumansLooksDoeStatesIndividualInterestAtheismEconomicConditionsHuman NatureGainsAspectInstitutionsPositive AtheismManageNovelistsOrganizedNew WaysHere And ThereProhibitionOrganized ReligionVested Interests
Author:E. M. Forster
Create image

“Really to believe in human nature while striving to know the thousand forces that warp it from its ideal development - to call for and expect much from men and women, and not to be disappointed and embittered if they fall short - to try to do good with people rather than to them - this is my religion on its human side. And if God exists, I think that he must be in the warm sun, in the kindly actions of the people we know and read of, in the beautiful things of art and nature, and in the closeness of friendships.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsMenTryingBelieveHumansArtActionBeautifulFallForceSidesSunHuman NatureDevelopmentThousandMen And WomenIdealsStriveWarmDisappointedBeautiful ThingsClosenessGod ExistsWarp
Author:Randolph Bourne
Create image

“Watch human nature; we are so built that if we do not get thrilled in the right way, we will get thrilled in the wrong. If we are without the thrill of communion with God, we will try to get thrilled by the devil, or by some concoction of human ingenuity.”

IfsWayTryingHumansWatchesHuman NatureDevilBuiltCommunionThrillRight WayIngenuityCommunion With God
Book:Biblical Ethics / The Moral Foundations of Life / The Philosophy of Sin: Ethical Principles for the Christian Life
Create image

“We suffer not from overproduction but from undercirculation. You have heard of technocracy. I wish I had those fellows for my competitors. I'd like to take the automobile it is said they predicted could be made now that would last fifty years. Even if never used, this automobile would not be worth anything except to a junkman in ten years, because of the changes in men's tastes and ideas. This desire for change is an inherent quality in human nature, so that the present generation must not try to crystallize the needs of the future ones.”

IfsMenNeedsTryingYearsHumansMadeSaidIdeasLastsUsedDesireSufferingWishQualityGenerationsHeardHuman NatureTasteTenFellowsFiftyDaily LifeInherentCompetitorsAutomobile
Author:Charles Kettering
Create image