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Impulse Quotes

Browse 1350 quotes about Impulse.

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Impulse Quotes

“Capitalism may even be identical with the restraint, or at least a rational tempering, of this irrational impulse. But capitalism is identical with the restraint, or at least a rational tempering, of this irrational impulse. But capitalism is identical with the pursuit of profit, and forever renewed profit, by means of continuous, rational, capitalistic enterprise.”

MayMeanForeverCapitalismProfitPursuitRationalImpulseEnterpriseIrrationalRestraintIdentical
Book:The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
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“A man will not roll in the snow for a stream of tendency by which all things fulfill the law of their being. He will not go without food in the name of something, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness. He will do things like this, or pretty nearly like this, under quite a different impulse. He will do these things when he is in love.”

MenDifferentInspirationLawFaithNamesAll ThingsChristian InspirationalSnowTendenciesImpulseStreamsRighteousness
Author:Gilbert K. Chesterton
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“Simplicity is a pleasant thing in children, or at any age, but it is not necessarily admirable, nor is affectation altogether a thing of evil. To be normal, to be at home in the world, with a prospect of power, usefulness, or success, the person must have that imaginative insight into other minds that underlies tact and savoir-faire, morality and beneficence. This insight involves sophistication, some understanding and sharing of the clandestine impulses of human nature. A simplicity that is merely the lack of this insight indicates a sort of defect.”

WorldMindHumansChildrenPersonsHomeAgeEvilUnderstandingNatureHuman NatureMoralityNormalSimplicityInsightImpulsePleasantDefectsImaginativeAdmirableUsefulnessSophisticationTactBeneficenceClandestinePleasant ThingsSavoir Faire
Book:Two Major Works: Social Organization. Human Nature and the Social Order
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“Where the good begins.- Where the poor power of the eye can no longer see the evil impulse as such because it has become too subtle, man posits the realm of goodness; and the feeling that we have now entered the realm of goodness excites all those impulses which had been threatened and limited by the evil impulses, like the feeling of security, of comfort, of benevolence. Hence, the duller the eye, the more extensive the good. Hence the eternal cheerfulness of the common people and of children. Hence the gloominess and grief - akin to a bad conscience - of the great thinkers.”

PeopleMenChildrenFeelingsEyeValuesEvilPoorCommonGriefMoralSecurityComfortGoodnessEternalConscienceImpulseRealmsSubtleThinkerThreatenedBenevolenceCheerfulnessGreat Thinkers
Book:The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
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“It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-preservation. It is worse than in vain; because it plants in the Constitution itself necessary usurpations of power, every precedent of which is a germ of unnecessary and multiplied repetitions.”

SelfConstitutionPlantVainImpulseBarriersUnnecessaryRepetitionPreservationGermsPrecedentSelf PreservationUsurpation
Book:The Federalist, on the New Constitution: Written in 1788
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“The history of ancient and modern republics had taught them that many of the evils which those republics suffered arose from the want of a certain balance, and that mutual control indispensable to a wise administration. They were convinced that popular assemblies are frequently misguided by ignorance, by sudden impulses, and the intrigues of ambitious men; and that some firm barrier against these operations was necessary. They, therefore, instituted your Senate.”

MenWantGovernmentCertainEvilWiseModernIgnoranceTaughtBalanceAncientConvincedAdministrationImpulseFirmOperationsBarriersMutualRepublicSenateAmbitiousIndispensableIntrigueAssemblyMisguidedAmbitious Man
Author:Alexander Hamilton
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“The subconscious mind makes no distinction between constructive and destructive thought impulses. It works with the material we feed it, through our thought impulses. The subconscious mind will translate into reality a thought driven by fear, just as readily as it will translate into reality a thought driven by courage or faith.”

InspirationalMindRealityMaterialsDrivenImpulseDistinctionDestructiveTranslateSubconsciousOur ThoughtsConstructiveSubconscious Mind
Book:Think and grow rich: Brazilian edition
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“So in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride - the temptation blithely to declare yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong, good and evil.”

FactsEvilSidesRaceStrugglePrideArmsFaultsNuclearTemptationLabelsImpulseDiscussionGiantsGood And EvilEmpiresRemoveUrgesAggressiveBoth SidesMisunderstandingProposalFreezeArms RaceNuclear ArmsNuclear Arms Race
Author:Ronald Reagan
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“...it would be a mistake...to ascribe to Roman legal conceptions an undivided sway over the development of law and institutions during the Middle Ages... The Laws of Moses as well as the laws of Rome contributed suggestions and impulse to the men and institutions which were to prepare the modern world; and if we could have but eyes to see... we should readily discover how very much besides religion we owe to the Jew.”

IfsMenWorldShouldWellsWould BeEyeAgeLawMistakeModernMiddleHe ManDevelopmentInstitutionsJewImpulseConceptionRomeSuggestionsJudaismModern WorldMiddle AgesMoses
Author:Woodrow Wilson
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“My second husband and I were going through a bitter divorce, and I didn't have the money for a fancy-pants attorney. I didn't know how to fight, so I'd lie awake at night and think of ways to kill him. But I knew I'd get caught, so I decided to put it in a book and get paid for it! I always think it's odd that a whole career came out of that homicidal impulse.”

ThinkingKnowsWayWritingBookWholeLyingNightFightingCareersKnow HowHusbandDecidedPaidCaughtDivorceBitterImpulseOddAwakeFancySongwritingPantsAttorneyAwake At NightHomicidal
Author:Sue Grafton
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“A large proportion of my best friends are a little bit crazy. ... I try to be cautious with my friends who are too sane. Depression is itself destructive, and it breeds destructive impulses: I am easily disappointed in people who don't get it.”

PeopleTryingLittlesBitsCrazyDepressionLittle BitMy FriendsIllnessMental IllnessImpulseProportionDestructiveDisappointedSaneMy Best FriendCautiousSelf DestructiveBe Cautious
Book:The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression
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“Reading, because we control it, is adaptable to our needs and rhythms. We are free to indulge our subjective associative impulse; the term I coin for this is deep reading: the slow and meditative possession of a book. We don't just read the words, we dream our lives in their vicinity. The printed page becomes a kind of wrought-iron fence we crawl through, returning, once we have wandered, to the very place we started.”

NeedsKindBookDreamReadingTermOur LivesPagesPossessionRhythmImpulseIronFenceCoinsSubjectiveIndulgePrintedAdaptableVicinity
Book:The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
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“Can I confess something? I tell you this as an artist, I think you'll understand. Sometimes when I'm driving on the road at night I see two headlights coming toward me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion. The sound of shattering glass. The flames rising out of the flowing gasoline.”

ThinkingI CanTwoSometimesArtistNightTurnsSoundCarGlassesDrivingImpulseFlamesRisingWheelsExplosionsAnticipateGasolineShatteringHeadlightsAnnie HallDriving On
Author:Christopher Walken
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“You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?”

WorldHumansDreamDesireFantasyEgoGoldGreenDollarsSizeImpulseAppetiteAtomsSplitsEmperorCathedralsFiberGreaseDevil's Advocate
Author:Al Pacino
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“I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse that compelled me to help bring this camp into being. I'd be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose. I've been accused of compassion, of altruism, of devotion to Christian, Hebrew, and Muslim ethic, but however desperate I am to claim ownership of a high ideal, I cannot. I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.”

IfsThinkingMayChildrenMadeHelpingWantedChristianPurposeWishChanceCompassionEthicsIdealsClaimsLuckFortuneLifetimeDevotionClarityImpulseAcknowledgeMotiveDesperateIf I CouldCampsRecallsOwnershipSavagesAltruismCompelledAccusedGood FortuneBrutalityBenevolenceLoftyHebrewLives Of Others
Author:Paul Newman
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“The brain, which operates on electromagnetic impulses, is as much an activity of the universe as are the electromagnetic storms in the atmosphere or on a distant star. Therefore science is one form of electromagnetism that spends it time studying another formscience is god explaining god through a human nervous systemisn't spirituality the same thing?”

HumansSpiritualFormSpiritualityUniverseStarsBrainStudyActivityStormNervousImpulseAtmosphereExplainingElectromagnetism
Author:Deepak Chopra
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“Why is discipline important? Discipline teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire. Saying no to our impulses (even the ones that are not inherently sinful) puts us in control of our appetites rather than vice versa. It deposes our lust and permits truth, virtue, and integrity to rule our minds instead.”

MindImportantDesirePrinciplesTeachVirtueDisciplineIntegrityVicesLustImpulsePermitAppetiteSelf DisciplineVice VersaSaying No
Book:Moments of Truth: Unleashing God's Word One Day at a Time
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“...smoking is just a habit. 'Tolstoy', she said, mentioning someone I hadn't met, 'says that just as much pleasure can be got from twirling the fingers'. My impulse was to tell her Tolstoy was off his onion, but I choked down the heated words. For all I know, the man might be a bosom pal of hers and she might resent criticism of him, however justified.”

KnowsMenSaidMightPleasureHe ManHabitMetsCriticismFingersImpulseSmokingJustifiedBosomsResentOnionsPalsTwirling
Book:The Cat-Nappers
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“Our life as consumers seems light years away from that of our grandparents. But you don't change human nature. Optimism, for me, is the belief that we can spread the opportunity for everyone to be fully human. Sustainability, like music, is an impulse to make sense of the world around us. It is core to our humanity. If you only like one composer, or think all the best music has already been written, you have reason for pessimism. If not, it is within us to have good reason for hope”

IfsThinkingWorldYearsHumansReasonLightSeemsHumanityOpportunityBeliefVisionOur LivesWrittenHuman NatureFutureMusic IsOptimismSpreadCoreConsumersImpulseMake SensePessimismComposerSustainabilityGrandparentDon't ChangeSustainable DevelopmentAll The BestLight Years
Author:Ed Mayo
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“The further limits of our being plunge, it seems to me, into an altogether other dimension of existence from the sensible and merely understandable world. Name it the mystical region, or the supernatural region, whichever you choose. So far as our ideal impulses originate in this region (and most of them do originate in it, for we find them possessing us in a way for which we cannot articulately account), we belong to it in a more intimate sense than that in which we belong to the visible world, for we belong in the most intimate sense wherever our ideals belong.”

WorldWaySeemsNamesExistenceLimitsIdealsAccountsImpulseIntimateVisibleDimensionsRegionsSensibleYou ChooseMysticalPossessingPlunge
Book:Essays in Pragmatism
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“The ignorant man is not free, because what confronts him is an alien world, something outside him and in the offing, on which he depends, without his having made this foreign world for himself and therefore without being at home in it by himself as in something his own. The impulse of curiosity, the pressure for knowledge, from the lowest level up to the highest rung of philosophical insight arises only from the struggle to cancel this situation of unfreedom and to make the world one's own in one's ideas and thought.”

MenWorldMadeIdeasHomeLevelsSituationStruggleDependsHighestPressurePhilosophicalCuriosityInsightAriseIgnorantAliensImpulseLowest
Book:Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art
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“Insofar as the theorist wins, therefore, by constructing an increasingly closed and terrifying machine, to that very degree he loses, since the critical capacity of his work is thereby paralysed, and the impulses of negation and revolt, not to speak of those of social transformation, are increasingly perceived as vain and trivial in the face of the model itself.”

FacesWinningSpeakSocialLosesDegreesModelsCapacityMachinesTransformationCriticalVainImpulseRevoltTheoristsNegationSocial Transformation
Author:Fredric Jameson
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“I couldn’t get near what I wanted through seeing, recognizing and recreating, so I stood the problem on its head. I started studying squares, rectangles, triangles and the sensations they give rise to It is untrue that my work depends on any literary impulse or has any illustrative intention. The marks on the canvas are sole and essential agents in a series of relationships which form the structure of the painting.”

GivingProblemWantedFormStudySeeingPaintingDependsEssentialsMarkStructureSeriesIntentionAgentsImpulseSensationsSquaresSoleCanvasRecognizingUntrueTrianglesRectangles
Author:Bridget Riley
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