Disposition Quotes

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  I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.

  Martha Washington

  Inspirational, Motivational, Happiness

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• Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Positive, Happiness

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.279, Barnes & Noble Publishing

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  He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

  Samuel Johnson

  Change, Positive, Attitude

  Samuel Johnson (1851). “The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works”, p.41

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• A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.

  William Arthur Ward

  Positive, Happiness, Appreciation

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• Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.

  Katherine Mansfield

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  "Talks with Katherine Mansfield at Fontainebleau" by A. R. Orage, The Century Magazine, November 1924.

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• He who is of a calm and happy nature, will hardly feel the pressure of age

  Plato

  Optimism, Age, Pressure

  Plato (2016). “The Republic”, p.211, Xist Publishing

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• A good disposition is a virtue in itself, and it is lasting; the burden of the years cannot depress it, and love that is founded on it endures to the end.

  Ovid

  Happiness, Beauty, Depressing

  Ovid (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ovid (Illustrated)”, p.290, Delphi Classics

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• I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may be.

  Martha Washington

  Happiness, Happy, Attitude

  28 Copy quote

• Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Powerful, Passion, Character

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• A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman.

  Edmund Burke

  Taken, Together, Would Be

  Edmund Burke (1798). “The Beauties of the Late Right Hon. Edmund Burke: Selected from the Writings, &c. of that Extraordinary Man, Alphabetically Arranged ... to which is Prefixed, a Sketch of the Life, with Some Original Anecdotes of Mr. Burke”, p.383

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• In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.

  Plutarch

  Character, Mind, States

  Plutarch (1898). “Plutarch's Morals: Ethical Essays”

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• It is not the position, but the disposition.

  Susan Sontag

  Inspirational, Motivational, Attitude

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• By nature's kindly disposition most questions which it is beyond a man's power to answer do not occur to him at all.

  George Santayana

  Nature, Men, Questions And Answers

  George Santayana (2011). “The Life of Reason: Introduction and Reason in Common Sense”, p.86, MIT Press

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• What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions.

  Aristotle

  Character, Anxiety, Political

  Aristotle (1953). “Ethics: The Nicomachean Ethics”

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• A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.

  John Adams

  Patriotic, Heart, Men

  John Adams (1805). “Discourses on Davila: A series of papers, on political history. Written in the year 1790, and then published in the Gazette of the United States”, p.26

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• I take up the standpoint that the tendency to aggression is an innate, independent, instinctual disposition in man, and I come back now to the statement that it constitutes the most powerful obstacle to culture.

  Sigmund Freud

  Powerful, Independent, Men

  "Civilisation, War and Death".

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• It is clearly better that property should be private, but the use of it common; and the special business of the legislator is to create in men this benevolent disposition.

  Aristotle

  Men, Special, Use

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.49, Aristotle

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• The wolf changes his coat, but not his disposition.

  Bill Vaughan

  Behaviour, Coats, Behavior

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• You cannot be healthy; you cannot be happy; you cannot be prosperous; if you have a bad disposition.

  Emmet Fox

  Attitude, Healthy, Ifs

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• For peace is not mere absence of war, but is a virtue that springs from force of character: for obedience is the constant will to execute what, by the general decree of the commonwealth, ought to be done.

  Baruch Spinoza

  Wisdom, Peace, War

  "Tractatus Politicus (TP)". Political paper by Baruch Spinoza, 1677.

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• It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy;—it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others.

  Jane Austen

  Time, Loneliness, Opportunity

  Sense and Sensibility vol. 2, ch. 12 (1811)

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• At any rate, girls are differently situated. Having no need of deep scientific knowledge, their education is confined more to the ordinary things of the world, the study of the fine arts, and of the manners and dispositions of people.

  William John Wills

  Girl, Education, Art

  William John Wills (1863). “A Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia: From Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria”, p.71, London : R. Bentley

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• I think copyright is moral, proper. I think a creator has the right to control the disposition of his or her works - I actually believe that the financial issue is less important than the integrity of the work, the attribution, that kind of stuff.

  Esther Dyson

  Integrity, Believe, Thinking

  "On the Frontier". Interview with Virginia Postrel, reason.com. October, 1996.

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• I will say that since our capture we have met with uniform kindness, and while in the penitentiary our relations with the officers have been cordially pleasant, and for their considerate and kind disposition we feel profoundly grateful.

  Cole Younger

  Kindness, Grateful, Uniforms

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• Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an esthetic end.

  Milan Kundera

  Beauty, Art, Matter

  "James Joyce, the Citizen and the Artist". Book by Charles Peake, 1977.

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