Quotes About Instinct

man produces evil as a bee produces honey

He forgot his wounds, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet, rushing through the forest toward the open beach.

To the broody hen the notion would probably seem monstrous that there should be a creature in the world to whom a nestful of eggs was not utterly fascinating and precious and never-to-be-too-much-sat-upon object which it is to her.

Our impulsive belief is here always what sets up the original body of truth, and our articulately verbalized philosophy is but its showy translation into formulas. The unreasoned and immediate assurance is the deep thing in us, the reasoned argument is but a surface exhibition. Instinct leads, intelligence does but follow.

Only humans dread. Dread is appropriate to nothing. It's the surplus of animal fear, it's never indicated, it's nothing but itself.

I have a rule: I prefer anyone who doesn't try to kill me to anyone who does. I'm funny that way.

Do you blame a vulture for perching over a carcass?

The weakness of the Elephant, our emotional and instinctive side, is clear: It's lazy and skittish, often looking for the quick payoff (ice cream cone) over the long-term payoff (being thin). When change efforts fail, it's usually the Elephant's fault, since the kinds of change we want typically involve short-term sacrifices for long-term payoffs. (We

making a gut-level emotional connection.

what action triggers do is create an "instant habit." Habits are behavioral autopilot, and that's exactly what action triggers are setting up.

By preloading a decision, they created an instant habit.

First, there's what we called the emotional side. It's the part of you that is instinctive, that feels pain and pleasure. Second, there's the rational side, also known as the reflective or conscious system. It's the part of you that deliberates and analyzes and looks into the future. In the past

A business cliché commands us to "raise the bar." But that's exactly the wrong instinct if you want to motivate a reluctant Elephant. You need to lower the bar. Picture taking a high-jump bar and lowering it so far that it can be stepped over. If you want a reluctant Elephant to get moving, you need to shrink the change.

The more instinctive a behavior becomes, the less self-control from the Rider it requires, and thus the more sustainable it becomes.

the failure will trigger the "flight" instinct

Anger prepares us to fight and fear prepares us to flee.

sometimes one has to drop logic and go with the instinct of the heart, even if it contradicts law.

Go with your heart, buddy. Our brains only screw things up.

You need to be surrounded by good advisers, but you also need to trust your instinct.

We must start by recognizing that the human mind was not designed for happiness. It was designed by natural selection to facilitate the survival and reproduction of human beings in an environment that existed tens of thousands of years ago. We know this because we know how natural selection works.

The sparks are getting hungrier every day, but controlling appetites is what separates man from beast. I shall wait until

We let rip with idealism and grand words, but it's nothing but rationalizations of our own egoistic behavior. Not only do we lie to others; we also lie to ourselves. Each one of us lives inside a house of mirrors -- our own instinctive self-righteousness distorts the way we view reality so that we can justify our actions to ourselves. And there's no way we can escape.

You can only act on what you do know. What your heart and your head and your gut tell you is right.

My mom knows when something is real and something is not.