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Human Nature Quotes

Browse 4693 quotes about Human Nature.

Human Nature Quotes

“Human nature provides the lyrics, and we novelists just compose the music.”

Writing Humans Human Nature Novelists

Author:Carlos Ruiz Zafon

“I would write of the universal, not the provincial, in human nature.... I would write of characters, not of characteristics.”

Writing Humans Character Human Nature Universal Characteristics

Author:Ellen Glasgow

“I think if you write humor, then people don't - you know - they don't give you that much credit. They tend to think you just dictate your stories into a tape recorder. And I'm not necessarily insulted by that, because I think that just means that it looks easy.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Giving Writing Looks Mean Stories Easy Community Comedy Human Nature Individuality Credit Ideology Tape Insulted Recorders

Author:David Sedaris

“Sometimes you read something and it's just -- it doesn't invite a reader....Sometimes you read something and it's not saying, 'oh come in, come in have a seat. I'm going to tell you what happened.' Perhaps my writing comes off as conversational...and that takes effort.”

Writing Sometimes Community Effort Happened Human Nature Reader Individuality Seats Invites

Author:David Sedaris

“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!”

Ifs Thinking Writing I Can Different Reality Community Audience Comedy Generations Happened Human Nature Figures Madness Unity Relate Not Afraid Embarrassing

Author:David Sedaris

“I can't begin to predict how news will be delivered to readers in, say, 100 years. But I do know one thing that hasn't changed: Whatever the delivery system, whether it's a magazine, book or blog, people like vivid writing, strong stories and credible people. So while the venue is changing rapidly, human nature isn't, which I find soothing.”

People Knows Writing Years Humans I Can Book Stories Strong One Thing Human Nature Changed Reader News Magazines Vivid Blogs Delivery Soothing Credible Venues

Author:Anna Quindlen

“It is human nature to imagine, to put yourself in another's shoes. The past may be another country. But the only passport required is empathy.”

Writing Humans May Country Past Imagine Human Nature Empathy Shoes Passports

Author:Geraldine Brooks

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.”

Writing Book Would Be Humanity Literature Human Nature Concepts

Author:Hermann Hesse

“Before I write anything, before I create any assumption in my mind about what it's like to be in that world, I go out there first. I'm very drawn to darkness and light, very drawn to cop drama, because there are very few places besides war and murder and a homicide investigation where you see the extremes of human nature - the darkest crevices and cracks in what people do to one another.”

People World Writing Mind Firsts Humans War Light Darkness Human Nature Drama Murder Extremes Assumption Cracks Investigation Cop Light And Darkness Homicide Crevice

Author:Veena Sud

“...compartmentalization of occupations and interests bring about a separation of that mode of activity commonly called 'practice' from insight; of imagination from executive 'doing.' Each of these activities is then assigned its own place in which it must abide. Those who write the anatomy of experience then suppose that these divisions inhere in the very constitution of human nature.”

Writing Humans Interest Imagination Practice Human Nature Activity Constitution Insight Separation Executives Division Occupation Anatomy

Author:John Dewey

“I have been accused of being a Pollyanna, but I think there are plenty of people dealing with the darker side of human nature, and if I am going to write about people who are kind and generous and loving and thoughtful, so what? In my life I have met astonishingly good people.”

People Ifs Thinking Writing Humans Kind Has Beens Sides Human Nature Mets Plenty Generous Thoughtful Good People Accused Darker Side Pollyanna

Author:Ann Patchett

“That's something that seems to happen when I'm writing, where maybe things that don't necessarily make a lot of logical sense are put together, and yet we struggle to make sense of these things somehow. I'm not quite sure why that is; it's something about human nature, I guess.”

Writing Humans Seems Happens Together Struggle Human Nature Make Sense Logical

Author:Kurt Wagner

“With abstract work, I never was quite sure what it was that felt right about the painting, but I did know that I responded to it and I liked whatever it was offering me. That's something that seems to happen as well when I'm writing, where maybe things that don't necessarily make a lot of logical sense are put together, and yet we struggle to make sense of these things somehow. I'm not quite sure why that is; it's something about human nature, I guess.”

Writing Together Struggle Human Nature Painting Make Sense Abstract Logical

Author:Kurt Wagner

“It is insight into human nature that is the key to the communicator's skill. For whereas the writer is concerned with what he puts into his writings, the communicator is concerned with what the reader gets out of it. He therefore becomes a student of how people read or listen.”

People Writing Humans Human Nature Students Keys Reader Skills Concerned Insight Communicators

Author:William Bernbach

“When you're writing non-fiction, you go as far as you can go, and then ethically you have to stop. You can't go. You can't suppose. You can't imagine. And I think there's something in human nature that wants to finish the story.”

Thinking Want Writing Humans Stories Fiction Imagine Human Nature Non Fiction

Author:Geraldine Brooks

“When it comes to people -- don't write about who you know; but what you know of human nature.”

People Knows Writing Humans Human Nature Who You Know

Author:Candace Bushnell

“According to Dickens, the first rule of human nature is self-preservation and when I forgive him for writing a character as pathetic as Oliver Twist, I'll thank him for the advice.”

Writing Firsts Humans Self Character Advice Human Nature Forgiving Preservation Twists Pathetic Self Preservation Dickens Oliver Twist

Book:Jellicoe Road

Source: Jellicoe Road

“There rise authors now and then, who seem proof against the mutability of language, because they have rooted themselves in the unchanging principles of human nature.”

Writing Humans Seems Language Principles Human Nature Proof Rooted Now And Then Unchanging Mutability

Book:The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. – The Complete Collection: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, The Voyage, Roscoe, A Royal Poet, A Sunday in London and many more (Illustrated)

Source: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. – The Complete Collection: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, The Voyage, Roscoe, A Royal Poet, A Sunday in London and many more (Illustrated)

“According to how gifted we are, we are all given a large or small key to this treasury of wonders. I have been blessed with a small key to the world of the young. It's a place where good and evil are clearly stamped. It's a place where the better part of human nature triumphs over tragedies, and where innocence rides high. It is a great pleasure to write there, because the young have what the rest of us only envy, and that is a belief in goodness and perpetual hope.”

World Writing Humans Has Beens Young Evil Belief Given Pleasure Wonder Human Nature Keys Goodness Tragedy Blessed Envy Innocence Triumph Good And Evil Perpetual Gifted Treasury

Author:Rosemary Wells

“The process of writing can be a powerful tool for self-discovery. Writing demands self-knowledge; it forces the writer to become a student of human nature, to pay attention to his experience, to understand the nature of experience itself. By delving into raw experience and distilling it into a work of art, the writer is engaging in the heart and soul of philosophy - making sense out of life.”

“It is human nature to look away from illness. We don't enjoy a reminder of our own fragile mortality. That's why writing on the Internet has become a lifesaver for me. My ability to think and write have not been affected. And on the Web, my real voice finds expression.”

Thinking Writing Humans Looks Real Enjoy Voice Ability Human Nature Expression Internet Illness Programming Affected Mortality Fragile Reminders

Author:Roger Ebert

“Christ is the Word of God in person. The Bible is the Word of God in writing. Both are the Word of God in the words of men. Both have a human nature and a divine nature.”

Men Writing Humans Persons God Christ Human Nature Divine Word Of God Divine Nature

Book:The God who Loves You:

Source: The God who Loves You:

“I'm insatiably curious about human nature. I feel very lucky that as a writer I get to learn so much about it just to do my job right.”

Feels Writing Humans Jobs Human Nature Lucky Curious

Author:Susan Cain

“If no one says the obvious, we’ll never know where we are.”

Writing Art Courage Society Human Nature Writers On Writing Humiliation The Goodbye Song Creating Art The Obvious

Book:The Goodbye Song

Source: The Goodbye Song

“If you were destined to be a poet, then you won't brainstorm for lines that rhymes. If you were destined to be a celebrity, then you shouldn't start searching for fans. If you are truly a god, then let others worship you!”