Quotes About Motive

But I did see that her dislike of Mrs. Leidner might have made her succumb to the temptation of, well—putting the wind up her—to put it vulgarly. She might have hoped to frighten away Mrs. Leidner from the dig.

The wish to kill and the action of killing are two different things.

The psychology of character is interesting,' returned Poirot unmoved. 'One cannot be interested in crime without being interested in psychology. It is not the mere act of killing, it is what lies behind it that appeals to the expert. You follow me, Hastings?

For a war to be just three conditions are necessary - public authority, just cause, right motive.

A single action could derive from many motivations. I should never assume.

Blame me not for my failures, for thats natural, but surely do for my achievements thats I rarely stumble upon with no motive whatsoever to achieve!

The way to find the cause of an event is to understand who had the most to gain from it.

A dead man is the best fall guy in the world. He never talks back.

People will often do imponderable things because of how they feel, not because of what they think.

a BBC report on a study of rape in Asia. The study concluded that in many cases the motive for rape was the idea that a man has the right to have sex with a woman regardless of her desires. In other words, his rights trump hers, or she has none.

In our reflecting and reasoning age, a man is not worth much who cannot give a good reason for everything, no matter how bad or crazy. Everything in the world that has been done wrong, has been done wrong for the very best of reasons.

It is motive alone that gives real value to the actions of men, and disinterestedness puts the cap to it.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

Example is a motive of very prevailing force on the actions of men.

A man's acts are usually right, but his reasons seldom are.

A man's motive in the small actions of daily life, like resting a moment on his pitchfork in the sun and listening intently, may be the most important thing about that man.

You would not call a man humane for ceasing to set mousetraps if he did so because he believed there were no mice in the house.

Every man has his own reason for every deed. Usually it is selfish.

We must judge of a man's motives from his overt acts.

When trying a case [the famous judge] L. Cassius never failed to inquire "Who gained by it?" Man's character is such that no one undertakes crimes without hope of gain.

I do everything for a reason. Most of the time the reason is money.

You're just a huge romantic at heart, aren't you?""If there's cash involved, I'm anything you want me to be.

When money speaks the truth is silent.

It was all about wanting to get revenge. Pathetic, really, but it still is the motivation.