Quotes About Human nature

Man is not naturally a ferocious wild beast. On the contrary, he loves, ordinarily, to live in peace and quietness, to till his lands and tend his flocks, and to enjoy the blessings of peace and repose. It is comparatively but a small number in any age of the world, and in any nation, whose passions of ambition, hatred, or revenge become so strong as that they love bloodshed and war. But these few, when they once get weapons into their hands, trample recklessly and mercilessly upon the rest.

It is a fine line, in all of us, between civilization and savagery. To any who think they would never cross it, I can only say, if you have never known what it is to be utterly betrayed and abandoned, you cannot know how close it is.

I'm not really interested in the black and white, the 'goodies and baddies.' I find the complexity of the gray areas more compelling, more intriguing. As I have said before, there are angels and demons in all of us, and I am interested in the relationship between the two within the 'ordinary' person.

Those who count on the good will of mankind display a delirious, idealistic optimism. Centuries of history, despite the facts, have not been able to convince them of the contrary; reason certainly will not change them. But they are so far removed from reality that their opinion is negligible.

Sympathy combines with our interest in property to generate a form of love or esteem which Hume took to be particularly prevalent in human nature. This is the admiration we feel for the rich and powerful.

The doctrine of original sin is the doctrine according to which divine forgiveness makes known the accidental nature of human mortality, thus permitting an entirely new anthropological understanding.

La cosa che l'uomo vuole meno di tutte è il perdono, perché il perdono lo incastra e lo costringe a riprendere.

Logic is one thing, the human animal another. You can quite easily propose a logical solution to something and at the same time hope in your heart of hearts it won't work out.

O homem não é o único animal que alimenta e cuida de suas crias. Mas é o único que depois usa isso para fazer chantagem emocional

Las debilidades son lo único bueno que tenemos. Es aburrido ser fuerte, y muy agradable flaquear a solas... y entre dos

There seemed to be three choices: to give up trying to love anyone, to stop being selfish, or to learn to love a person while continuing to be selfish.

A knowledge of human nature is the first condition of the successful conduct of life. Every business man, lawyer, doctor, statesman, needs it. If a man should attempt to farm without any knowledge of seeds and soils, or to mine without any knowledge of metals, he would be sure to fail; how can he succeed in dealing with men if he knows nothing about human nature.

Vanity is easily forgiven, for we are all vain, and even as we laugh at the weakness of others we feel that their vanity has touched the responding chord of our own.

When one has praised Turgenev, however, for the beauty of his character and the beautiful truth of his art, one remembers that he, too, was human and therefore less than perfect. His chief failing was, perhaps, that of all the great artists, he was the most lacking in exuberance. That is why he began to be scorned in a world which rated exuberance higher than beauty or love or pity.

Jane Austen has often been praised as a natural historian. She is a naturalist among tame animals. She does not study men (as Dostoevsky does) in his wild state before he has been domesticated. Her men and women are essentially men and women of the fireside.

People haven't changed much over the years. From what I've been reading, it looks like many of these religions make you have to work your way to paradise, or heaven, or whatever eternity means to them." "Good

this beast epic is throughout a keen satire not only upon medieval society, but upon human nature in all ages.

People though are rarely all good or all evil but often a mixture of both and we all make mistakes.

We live by devouring those we love. How can we help it? They're the ones within closest reach.

Men are so simple, and yield so much to necessity, that he who will deceive may always find him that will lend himself to be deceived.

Men are so stupid and concerned with their present needs, they will always let themselves be deceived.

The more I see of men, the better I like dogs.

Plus je vois le homes, plus j'admire les chiens" (The more I see of men, the more I admire dogs).

I do not find human nature either wicked or good, I find it driven forward by the same inevitable laws as the tides and the constellations