Quotes About Motives

It was likewise never doubted that all the antecedentia of an action, its causes, were to be sought in the consciousness and could be discovered there if one sought them – as 'motives': for otherwise one would not have been free to perform it, responsible for it.

The latter stage is apt to end in cynicism as we wonder what the one who praises really wants.

But if a good heart, a good intention, a subjective conviction are declared to be the sources from which actions derive their worth, then there is no longer any hypocrisy or evil at all; for whatever someone does, he can always turn it into something good through reflecting on his good intentions and motives, and so the moment of his convictions renders it good.

I think that when somebody loses a bet, they tend to sometimes confuse their motives in rooting and enjoying the game because if you lose your bet, even though the team you're rooting for wins, you have a potentially conflicted outcome.

He put in your heart certain wishes and plans; in my heart, he put other different desires.

Pretexts are not wanting when one wishes to use them.

By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.

We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men. But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to cruel and unjust ends.

In my experience, people looking for progress aren't actually looking to move things forward. They're looking to be perceived in a certain way: as a forward thinker. It's about vanity rather than any altruistic motives for the art.

The thirst for education that comes with the change the gospel brings can be a blessing or a curse, depending on our motives.

But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.

Hate is usually a more compelling motive than love

conclusions about each other's motives or thoughts. Others have referred to this pattern as psychologizing or mind reading

Everyone had an idea as to how to save Germany. However, none of these proposals had anything to do with Germany. Rather, they were tied to personal interests. An

The ability to simply look without motive is missing in the world today. Everybody is a psychological creature, wanting to assign meaning to everything. Seeking is not about looking for something. It is about enhancing your perception, your very faculty of seeing.

You have no assurance that they are doing wrong at all, for the motives of man's actions are not always what they seem. There is generally much to learn before any judgement can be pronounced with certainty on another's doings.

nunca se sabe ao certo quando os homens incorrem em erro, pois muitas das suas ações, que nos parecem perversas a primeira vista, são feitas com boas intenções, ou ao menos sem más intenções. É necessário conhecer inúmeros pormenores e circunstâncias antes de poder julgar com alguma segurança a conduta alheia.

If you are innately skeptical of other people's motives, then no amount of good behavior in the past will ever truly convince you that they are not just about to disappoint you. Suspicion is a permanent condition.

I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.

What's dangerous in the hands of the multitudes, he said, with what may or may not have been irony, is safe enough for those whose motives are... Beyond reproach, I said. He nodded gravely. Impossible to tell whether or not he meant it.

We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else. But as Mr. Erskine also pointed out, Eros with his bow and arrows is not the only blind god. Justitia is the other one. Clumsy blind gods with edged weapons: Justicia totes a sword, which, coupled with her blindfold, is a pretty good recipe for cutting yourself.

I did believe, at first, that I wanted only justice. I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else. But as Mr. Erskine also pointed out, Eros with his bow and arrows is not the only blind god. Justitia is the other one. Clumsy blind gods with edged weapons: Justitia totes a sword, which, coupled with her blindfold, is a pretty good recipe for cutting yourself.

A man always has two reasons for the things he does—a good one and the real one.

She felt puzzled and ashamed, as always when people attributed to her emotions and motives they possessed and thought she shared.