Quotes About Instinct

You must always have a safe place to go. That is the first thing you learn. Though you should know that by instinct, before anyone has to teach you. It isn't just spies that need to run. Good times don't last forever.

Mother Wolf, you called yourself. What does a wolf teach her pups but teeth and hunger? You didn't make me in your image. You made me into something worse.

What does a wolf teach her pups but teeth and hunger? You didn't make me in your image. You made me into something worse.

Our minds are wired by nature to detect patterns.

Sometimes when you're really scared, your amygdala instantly shuts out your higher brain, causing you to act on primitive instinct. Most of the time, however, the amygdala sizes up a situation before making its

locked in self-preservation ("I am threatened and must do anything I can to survive")

Remember the three-brain model I talked about earlier—mammal brain on top of reptile brain and human brain on top of mammal brain, with each one building on the one that came earlier in evolution? The instant judgments we make about people are similar, because they too build on the past. That doesn't mean they're entirely wrong. (In fact, an initial "gut instinct" is often spot-on.) But it means they're not entirely right, either.

Your brain has three layers that evolved over millions of years: a primitive reptile layer, a more evolved mammal layer, and a final primate layer. They all interconnect, but in effect they often act like three different brains—and they're often at war with each other.

The lower reptilian brain is the "fight-or-flight" part of your brain. This region of your brain is all about acting and reacting, without a lot of thinking going on. It can also leave you frozen in a perceived crisis—the "deer-in-the-headlights" response.

To a small extent, these three brains work together. To a greater extent, however, they tend to pull apart and function independently—especially when we're under stress. When that happens and the reptile or mammal brain takes control, the human thinking brain is eclipsed, and we shift into primal brain functions.

Nature remains focused on survival.

trying to establish the boundary between an irresistible impulse and an impulse not resisted was like trying to determine when twilight ended and dusk began.

That's the only dog I know who can smell someone just thinking about food.

Sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.

Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs.

One can describe them as a boa: when it feels threatened, it runs to somewhere else.

Just another part of that Spartan killer instinct. I can slay the ladies just as well as I can reapers.

It's a real primal thing, watching someone get hurt. It's funny and accessible.

In theory, especially in the case of Stone, those who have human hearts would remain cognizant of their behavior and in control of themselves. Those who are Katagaria . . .

How often has Hitler said to me: 'I know that my decision or action is correct. I cannot explain at the moment why, but I feel that it is right and the future will prove it so'.

Sometimes, I think, our impulses come not from the past, but from the future.

Your final goal is to convert your athletic swing to pure instinct rather than conscious thought.

Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage.

Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards.