Quotes About Motives

no matter what rallying cries the orators give to the idiots who fight, no matter what noble purposes they assign to wars, there is never but one reason for a war. And that is money.

We are thankful for good-will rather than for services, for the motive than the quantum of favor received.

Men's hearts are being searched...it is a tremendous sifting time, not only of actions but of inner motives. Nothing can escape the all-searching eye of God.

It is hard to work for years with pure motives, and all the time be looked upon by most of those to whom our lives are devoted as having some sinister object in view.

Was it pride that made me so extremely anxious to appear satisfied with my lot - or merely a just determination to bear my self-imposed burden alone, and preserve my best friend from the slightest participation in those sorrows from which she had striven so hard to save me? It might have been something of each, but I am sure the latter motive was predominant.

Any excuse will do

The highest officers in the government had the strongest motives to corruption, and therefore could by no possibility attempt to check the same corruption in those below them…

Extend the sphere," Madison wrote, "and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength, and to act in unison with each other."31 We might call this a vision of the saving weakness of a "disaggregated majority.

The feelings of politicians are rarely transparent.

In his experience, when a person suggested that someone needed to be elected leader, they often had themselves in mind for the position.

our monsters walk the dark pathways of secret motives...

Moonlight possesses no alchemy to transmute good motives to base, but it does excite love magic...

we each harbor a shadow self with shadowy motives and murky desires...

this is indeed a clear proof that the love of God to his people is entirely free from all motives and conditions in them, being before they had done either good or evil; and therefore did not arise from any goodness in them, nor from their love to him nor from any good works done by them:

There are false prophets today who have abandoned traditional values for the message of political correctness. Their message and motive is to make people feel good without being good, to master the ritual without achieving righteousness, and to conform to their sin without confessing their sin.

The motive for giving, whether in time, money, or objects, is one of the most frequent internal spiritual struggles that a Christian goes through. Actions will reveal the motives of our heart.

Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit of all.

A snake never shares what she knows unless it serves her own purposes.

God is not merely concerned with what we do but why we do it. A right act may be robbed of all its value in the sight of God if it is done with a wrong motive.

conocía de sobra... los motivos simples por los que un hombre con las dosis adecuadas de fanatismo, rencor o ánimo de lucro mercenario podía matar indiscriminadamente.

You tell us about your other friends. You feel guilty speaking about them, but you are annoyed, frustrated. You don't always trust their motives. You feel pressured by their demands on you. You're worn out by the effort it takes to be with them, to feign interest in their stream of never-ending problems.

We can achieve a sort of control under which the controlled, though they are following a code much more scrupulously than was ever the case under the old system, nevertheless feel free. They are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do. That's the source of the tremendous power of positive reinforcement-- there's no restraint and no revolt. By careful cultural design, we control not the final behavior, but the inclination to behave-- the motives, desires, the wishes.

How do I know that you aren't manipulating me right now, like you do everyone else, to get what you want?" "Because if that was true, you and I would already be lovers.

My books are never about the crimes. They are about how the characters react to the crimes.