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Motive Quotes

Browse 1214 quotes about Motive.

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Motive Quotes

“Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations. Man's capacity for decent behavior seems to vary directly with his perception of others as individual humans with human motives and feelings, whereas his capacity for barbarism seems related to his perception of an adversary in abstract terms, as the embodiment, that is, of some evil design or ideology.”

PeopleMenHumansFeelingsSeemsFormTurnsEvilIndividualNationsTermDesignCommunicationBehaviorPerceptionCapacityRelationInternationalEducationalIdeologyRelatedMotiveAbstractDecentAdversariesVaryInternational RelationsContributingEmbodimentBarbarismPerception Of Others
Author:J. William Fulbright
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“Gird up your loins for the task that now lies ahead. I had asked you for men, money and materials. I have got them in generous measure. Now I demand more of you. Men, money and materials cannot by themselves bring victory or freedom. We must have the motive-power that will inspire us to brave deeds and heroic exploits.”

MenLyingInspireMaterialsVictoryDemandTasksArmyBraveDeedsGenerousMotiveHeroicExploits
Book:A Nation's Homage: Life and Work of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
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“When I was a young fellow I was knocked down plenty. I wanted to stay down, but I couldn't. I had to collect the two dollars for winning or go hungry. I had to get up. I was one of those hungry fighters. You could have hit me on the chin with a sledgehammer for five dollars. When you haven't eaten for two days you'll understand.”

TwoMotivationalWantedYoungWinningSportsFiveHavensFoodFellowsDollarsHungryGet UpFighterPlentyMotiveBoxingMotivational SportsMotivatedHittingKeep TryingChinsKickingTwo DaysUnderdogKnocked DownKnockoutsBoxing Motivational
Author:Jack Dempsey
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“Ashamed of the many frailties they feel within, all men endeavor to hide themselves, their ugly nakedness, from each other, and wrapping up the true motives of their hearts in the specious cloak of sociableness, and their concern for the public good, they are in hopes of concealing their filthy appetites and the deformity of their desires.”

MenFeelsHeartDesireConcernShameUglyMotiveAshamedEndeavorAppetiteCloaksFilthyFrailtyPublic GoodWrappingConcealingDeformityWrapping Up
Author:Bernard de Mandeville
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“From the explanatory notes that Willson wrote to accompany his symphony, A Symphony of San Francisco,: "Generally speaking, the first movement is intended to convey pioneer courage, loyalty, strength of purpose and freedom." The trumpet motive in the closing Allegro "is a call of defiance to the very elements themselves that had the temerity to dispute the spiritual strength and courage of the golden city of the West."”

FirstsSpiritualPurposeFreedomCitiesMovementElementsNotesWestLoyaltyGoldenMotiveDisputesSan FranciscoClosingSymphonyPioneersDefianceTrumpetsAccompanySpiritual Strength
Author:Meredith Willson
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“Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved.”

ShouldHeartMayChildrenChristianRememberChoicesGivenFearParentLordWifeBlessingHusbandLetting GoOur ChildrenLaysNeighborTreasureObligationChristian LifeBelovedYour ChildrenMotiveJewelsYour HusbandChastisement
Author:John Bunyan
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“The truth of the matter is, we all come to prayer with a tangled mass of motives altruistic and selfish, merciful and hateful, loving and bitter. Frankly, this side of eternity we will never unravel the good from the bad, the pure from the impure. God is big enough to receive us with all our mixture.”

MatterEnoughBigsSidesPrayerPureMassEternitySelfishBitterMotiveMixturesHatefulMercifulTangled
Book:Prayer - 10th Anniversary Edition: Finding the Heart's True Home
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“We label judges with having the meanest motives, and yet we desire that our reputation and fame should depend upon the judgment of men, who are all, either from their jealousy or preoccupation or want of intelligence, opposed to us - and yet despite their bias, just for the sake of making these men decide in our favor, we peril in so many ways both our peace and our life.”

MenWayWantShouldDesireOur LivesJudgingDependsFameJudgmentSakeFavorsReputationDespiteLabelsMotiveBiasPerilPreoccupation
Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld
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“Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations. No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect.”

MenSometimesWholeCharacterHandsIndividualDifficultUnderstandingInterestAbilityActingHonestHonestyInformationDutyCitizensConcernFellowsUnionsIndividualityVariousExcitedSufficientMotiveExecutivesStationsAnxiousPossessedPresidencyResortsHonest ManBest Of Me
Author:Thomas Jefferson
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“He never does a proper thing without giving an improper reason for it.”

GivingDoeReasonMotive
Book:The Collected Plays of George Bernard Shaw (Illustrated): Including Renowned Titles like Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, The Inca Of Perusalem, Macbeth Skit, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion
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“Do not consider Collectivists as "sincere but deluded idealists". The proposal to enslave some men for the sake of others is not an ideal; brutality is not "idealistic," no matter what its purpose. Do not ever say that the desire to "do good" by force is a good motive. Neither power-lust nor stupidity are good motives.”

MenMatterDesirePurposeForceLibertyIdealsNo Matter WhatSakeStupidityLibertarianLustMotiveSincereLibertarianismProposalBrutalityIdealistDeludedIdealistic
Author:Ayn Rand
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“To exercise some sort of control over others is the secret motive of every selfish person.”

PersonsSecretExerciseSelfishMotiveSelfish Person
Book:The Science of Being Great: Personal Self-Help Book of Wallace D. Wattles (Unabridged): From one of The New Thought pioneers, author of The Science of Getting Rich, The Science of Being Well, How to Get What You Want, Hellfire Harrison, How to Promote Yourself and A New Christ
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“The Work is merely four questions; it's not even a thing. It has no motive, no strings. It's nothing without your answers. These four questions will join any program you've got and enhance it. Any religion you have - they'll enhance it. If you have no religion, they will bring you joy. And they'll burn up anything that isn't true for you. They'll burn through to the reality that has always been waiting.”

IfsRealityJoyWaitingAnswersFourProgramMotiveStringsAdsKatie
Author:Byron Katie
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“Without the suitable conditions life could not exist. But both life and its conditions set forth the operations of inscrutable Power. We know not its origin; we know not its end. And the presumption, if not the degradation, rests with those who place upon the throne of the universe a magnified image of themselves, and make its doings a mere colossal imitation of their own. Wonder was the motive that led people to philosophy ... wonder is a kind of desire in knowledge. It is the cause of delight because it carries with it the hope of discovery.”

PeopleIfsKnowsKindEndsPhilosophyDesireUniverseCausesWonderKnowledgeConditionsDiscoveryMereDelightOperationsMotiveCarrieImitationThronesSuitableDegradationPresumptionDoingsColossalInscrutable
Author:Thomas Aquinas
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“Consider who and what you are; who the Spirit is that is grieved, what he has done for you, what he comes to your soul about, what he has already done in you; and be ashamed. Among those who walk with God, there is no greater motive and incentive unto universal holiness, and the preserving of their hearts and spirits in all purity and cleanness than this: That the blessed Spirit, who has undertaken to dwell in them, is continually considering what they give entertainment in their hearts unto, and rejoices when his temple is kept undefiled.”

GivingHeartSoulDoneSpiritWalksGreaterUniversalBlessedEntertainmentYour SoulMotivePurityHolinessAshamedTemplesRejoiceConsideringIncentivesSanctificationWalking With God
Author:John Owen
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“In the higher walks of politics the same sort of thing occurs. The statesman who has gradually concentrated all power within himself ... may have had anything but a public motive... The phrases which are customary on the platform and in the Party Press have gradually come to him to seem to express truths, and he mistakes the rhetoric of partisanship for a genuine analysis of motives... He retires from the world after the world has retired from him.”

WorldMaySeemsTruthScienceWalksPartyMistakePowerHigherPressesGenuineAnalysisPhrasesMotiveRetiringPlatformsRhetoricRetiredStatesmenPartisanship
Author:Bertrand Russell
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“What a delight it is to think that you are quietly & philosophically at work in the pursuit of science... rather than fighting amongst the crowd of black passions & motives that seem now a days to urge men every where into action. What incredible scenes every where, what unworthy motives ruled for the moment, under high sounding phrases and at the last what disgusting revolutions.”

ThinkingMenMomentsSeemsActionLastsScienceFightingPassionBlackRevolutionSceneResearchIncrediblesCrowdsDelightPursuitPhrasesMotiveUrgesDisgustingUnworthy
Book:The letters of Faraday and Schoenbein 1836-1862: With notes, comments and references to contemporary letters
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“In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives.”

KnowsMenSoulActionLyingProcessNaturalElementsLettersMirrorsNakedMotiveBreastsInvertedLetter Writing
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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“American citizens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the laws of humanity and in defiance of those of their own country. The same just and benevolent motives which produced interdiction in force against this criminal conduct will doubtless be felt by Congress in devising further means of suppressing the evil.”

MeanCountryLawHumanityEvilForceFeltCitizensSlaveryCongressCriminalsMotiveTrafficViolationDefianceBenevolentAmerican CitizensCarrying OnSuppressingDevisingInterdiction
Book:The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series
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