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Motive Quotes

Browse 1214 quotes about Motive.

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Motive Quotes

“Novels are routinely denigrated when characters are not found to be likable. Is Raskolnikov likable? Is King Lear? The plethora of such naive readers testifies to a failure of imagination - the capacity to see into unfamiliar lives, motives, feelings - and this failure must, at least in part, be the failure of the teaching of literature in the schools.”

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Author:Cynthia Ozick
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“The time of reckoning will at length arrive. And when finallly summoned to the bar of God, to give an account of our stewardship, what plea can we have to urge in our defense, if we remain willingly, and obstinately ignorant of the way which leads to life, with such transcendent means of knowing it, and such urgent motives to its pursuit?”

IfsWayGivingMeanKnowingAccountsDefensePursuitBarsIgnorantMotiveUrgesLengthUrgentStewardshipTranscendentReckoning
Author:William Wilberforce
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“True practical Christianity (never let it be forgotten) consists in devoting the heart and life to God; in being supremely and habitually governed by a desire to know, and a disposition to fulfill his will, and in endeavoring under the influence of these motives to 'live to his glory.' Where these essential requisites are wanting, however amiable the character may be, however creditable and respectable among men, yet, as it possesses not the grand distinguishing essence, it must not be complimented with the name of Christianity.”

KnowsMenHeartMayCharacterDesireNamesChristianityInfluenceEssentialsGloryEssenceForgottenPracticalsMotiveDispositionRespectableAmiable
Book:A Practical View
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“Kant does not think there is anything wrong with being beneficent from sympathy. He thinks we have a duty to cultivate sympathetic feelings by participating in the situations of others and acquiring an understanding of them. He thinks we also have a duty to make ourselves into the kind of person for whom the recognition that something is our duty would be a sufficient incentive to do it (if no other incentives were available to us). That's what he means by "the duty to act from the motive of duty".”

IfsThinkingKindMeanPersonsDoeFeelingsWould BeUnderstandingSituationDutyAvailableRecognitionSufficientMotiveIncentivesSympatheticParticipating
Author:Allen W. Wood
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“Kant does not think that along with choice of an action we also choose in each case the motive from which we do it. He thinks all is well if I act beneficently, realizing that it is my duty but also having sympathetic feelings for the person I help. But I ought to strive to be the sort of person who would still help even if these feelings were absent. And it is such a case that he presents when the sympathetic friend of humanity finds his sympathetic feelings overclouded by his own sorrows, and still acts beneficently from duty.”

IfsThinkingWellsPersonsDoeStillsHelpingFeelingsActionHumanityChoicesRealizingCasesDutyOughtSorrowStriveMotiveAbsentSympathetic
Author:Allen W. Wood
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“It is absurd for anyone to think that Soviet "Marxism" is a correct application of the thought of Karl Marx. No doubt Soviet propaganda represented it this way. But who believes Soviet propaganda? It is remarkable (but maybe not so remarkable after all, when you consider their motives) that apologists for capitalism, who would not accept Soviet propaganda on any other point, are eager to agree with it on this point.”

ThinkingWayBelieveAcceptingDoubtCapitalismAgreeAbsurdPropagandaMotiveNo DoubtRemarkableApplicationSovietMarxismSoviet Propaganda
Author:Allen W. Wood
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“I would argue that search has made the world a better place. It has done so for reasons that arbitrarily could completely change that - not arbitrarily at all but to completely change how that plays out based upon the needs of profitability. So it's totally unreliable and it has many layers nested underneath that of many ulterior motives nested underneath it.”

WorldNeedsMadeReasonDonePlayArguingMotiveLayersBetter PlaceUnreliableProfitabilityUlterior Motive
Author:Jonathon Keats
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“I think theres just this mystique of writing a book that appeals to people. A person has to really check their motives and say, Am I really being called by God to do this? Or is this just something that would look neat in my funeral? I dont mean to be harsh but I think a person really needs to, so they wont be disappointed.”

PeopleThinkingNeedsWritingLooksMeanPersonsBookChecksAppealsMotiveDisappointedFuneralHarshWriting A BookNeatMystiqueCalled By God
Author:Max Lucado
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“This going on and on about how terrible a carbon-based economy is, these people are full of crap. They don't know what they're talking about. Their motives are not necessarily good just because they say they are being good. It's peace, love, and understanding. To which I can just say, "Shut up." Human liberty, rule of law, and free markets fix this stuff. It isn't necessary to go around being the Mia Farrow of the ecosphere.”

PeopleKnowsHumansI CanLawStuffUnderstandingTalkingLibertyEconomyTerribleBe GoodMotiveCrapShut UpCarbonFree MarketRule Of LawPeace LoveMia
Author:P. J. O'Rourke
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“I don't [know] what everybody else's motives are, I don't know what your motives are, but mine is to portray the real life of an NBA player. And it's not all about I just do everything, like I'm the hardest worker, or I love to play basketball every day, I go to the gym at eight and don't leave until five. No, that's not how it is. That's not how I am.”

KnowsRealPlayFivePlayerMinesBasketballWorkersEightReal LifeHardestMotiveNbaGymNba Player
Author:Kevin Durant
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“Modern authoritarianism, as it's growing inside Europe and now coming to the United States, rests much more on the use of power to protect the guilty than to persecute the innocent. And its motive is not crazy totalitarian utopianism, it's motive is repressive kleptocracy. To steal and to use the powers of the state to protect theft.”

StatesUseUnitedUnited StatesGrowingCrazyModernProtectEuropeStealingInnocentGuiltyMotiveTheftAuthoritarianismUse Of Power
Author:David Frum
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“Equality is not possible. The pursuit of equality, however, people really love that. For some reason, people attach the most wonderful of motives to people who say they see all this inequality out there and need to fix it. It's just not fair. You'll hear it manifest itself in discussions about the so-called widening gap between the rich and the poor or the widening gap between men and women. It's like actually two twin beds.”

PeopleMenNeedsTwoReasonPoorRichWonderfulBedMen And WomenFairsPursuitInequalityDiscussionMotiveGapsManifestTwinsNot Fair
Author:Rush Limbaugh
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“So much of the time I'm cast as an asshole or a douchebag, or that kind of thing. I'd like to go back to just playing a guy with a good heart. Usually so much of my stuff is ulterior motives or a dark thing to it. Maybe that's what other people see in me, but I feel like I have a warm side, too, humor and fun. I'd like to play a little bit more of that. Feel-good stuff. Why not?”

PeopleFeelsHeartKindLittlesPlayGuyFunStuffBitsSidesDarkLittle BitCastsWarmFeel GoodMotiveWhy NotGood HeartDark ThingsUlterior MotiveDouchebags
Author:Dan Amboyer
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“The Freudian tradition will never completely die because it has a few good points. For example, people have motives and thoughts of which they are unaware. Most of cognitive therapy has now adopted a similar idea. On the other hand, the relationship part of psychoanalysis - where you must have a deep, emotional relationship with the client - will, I think, get kicked in the teeth one of these days.”

PeopleThinkingIdeasHandsDiesExampleEmotionalTraditionTeethThese DaysTherapyMotiveClientsAdoptedPsychoanalysisCognitiveCognitive TherapyDeep EmotionalEmotional Relationship
Author:Albert Ellis
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“A very tall man once asked a question after my talk. Before beginning his question, he explained that the reason he was standing up is not to be intimidating but rather to make eye contact. His question was essentially "are we really interested in moral motives? Isn't it all about action?". I pointed out to him that it was not enough for him to do the right thing - stand up - but he also wanted me to know that he is doing it from the right motive or for the right reason - to make eye contact, rather than to be intimidating. Voila, moral psychology.”

MenReasonEnoughEyeActionMoralPsychologyRight ThingMotiveIntimidatingEye Contact
Author:Nomy Arpaly
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“I don't think any of my desires or beliefs or other mental states are external to me. Many people will occasionally feel alienated from the motives for an action - "whatever possessed me to do that?". Note, however, that some people feel alienated from the white hairs that recently appeared on their heads - "who put them there?", they might ask the mirror - but the white hairs are still theirs. Similarly, I might feel alienated from an action or a mental state because it does not fit with my visceral self - image.”

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Author:Nomy Arpaly
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“President Obama, I think, wanted what was best for the country, but I think it didn't work well. I think we have the death spiral, and I think particularly premiums in the individual market are going through the roof. Republicans want what's best for the country, but I think they're not fixing the death spiral of Obamacare. They're going to subsidize it with a lot of taxpayer money. So, characterizing something as mean or generous I think goes to people's motives, and I think it is sort of why we have such an angry country now. We think that people have ill motives.”

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Author:Rand Paul
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“If the motive of writing is for some people a kind of exercise in dirty laundry, that's one thing. I've always thought of my poems as meant to be overheard, as I think all of these poems are. It seems to me if you get experience right, even your most painful or humiliating experiences - if you get those experiences right for yourself and make discoveries as you go along and find for them some formal glue - they will be poems for others.”

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Author:Stephen Dunn
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