Quotes About Behavior

The ego (one's self-perception) is a very shaky structure, easily undermined by unconscious drives and desires. It is possible to repress those drives for a while and feel like a capable, rational subject, but eventually they will reveal themselves in the form of idiosyncratic behaviour, slips of the tongue, even illnesses. The perception that one can craft an identity by copying that of someone else has created particular problems in today's society.

OUR STATE OF mind plays a major role in our day-to-day experiences as well as our physical and mental well-being. If a person has a calm and stable mind, this influences his or her attitude and behaviour in relation to others. In other words, if someone remains in a peaceful and tranquil state of mind, external surroundings can cause them only a limited disturbance.

This is why the culture that arises from daily acts takes the place of corporate policies. Instead of writing ourselves down in a set of rules, we evolve slowly based on what we do.

Gli animali non si comportano come gli uomini. Se devono battersi, si battono. Se devono uccidere, uccidono. Ma non usano la loro intelligenza per trovar la maniera di arrecar danni alle altre creature, di avvelenar loro la vita. Essi hanno dignità, hanno animalità.

Why do the men come, do you suppose?" asked Fiver. "Who knows why men do anything? They may drive cows or sheep in the fields, or cut wood in the copses. What does it matter? I'd rather dodge a man than a stoat or a fox.

No one does anything uncharacteristic of who they are.

I get enough of crowds even when they're happy... if they're scared they're either going to crucify somebody or worship him

Wenn die Intelligenten einen schlechten Charakter haben, so zeigt sich das, und wenn sie keinen schlechten Charakter haben, dann sind sie so leicht auszurechnen wie Quadratwurzeln.

If I knew what was making me do it, I probably wouldn't have to.

The first fact was that if Heidi hadn't picked that particular day to try out a little autoeroticism, Halleck would have been on top of his job and his responsibility as the operator of a motor vehicle

They were healthy, normal sex fiends.

tis an old observation, and a very true one; but what's to be done, as I said before? how will you prevent people from talking?...

Children listen best with their eyes. What you do is what they hear.

Each of us places varying degrees of significance on what's really relevant and important, and we can almost always find fault with the way someone else is thinking or behaving. We can usually validate our own versions of reality by focusing on examples that, we believe, prove us to be right. In short, the way we see life will always seem justified, logical, and correct—to ourselves. The problem is, everyone else has the same assumption.

Those who are in the habit of correcting others are often resented and avoided.

If we all based our love on our children's behavior, it would often be difficult to love them at all. If love were based purely on behavior, then perhaps none of us would ever have been loved as a teenager!

The truth is, the only difference between good girls and bad girls is: Good girls just haven't been caught yet.

A retaliator behaves like a hawk when he is attacked by a hawk, and like a dove when he meets a dove. When he meets another retaliator he plays like a dove. A retaliator is a conditional strategist. His behaviour depends on the behaviour of his opponent.

Putting these three things together we arrive at our own 'central theorem' of the extended phenotype: An animal's behaviour tends to maximize the survival of the genes 'for' that behaviour, whether or not those genes happen to be in the body of the particular animal performing it.

Should we then not expect lions to refrain from killing antelopes, 'for the good of the mammals'?

In the world of the extended phenotype, ask not how an animal's behaviour benefits its genes; ask instead whose genes it is benefiting.

The nervous system has a rule that says, 'Any trial action that is followed by reward should be repeated. Any trial action that is followed by nothing, or, worse, followed by punishment, for example pain, should not be repeated.

As Einstein said, 'If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish. Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to, because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs, something that no other species has ever aspired to.