Motive Quotes - Page 22

• The philanthropist, the politician, and the pimp are inevitably found in alliance because they have the same motives, they seek the same ends, to exist for, through, and by others.

  Isabel Paterson

  Pimp, Alliances, Politician

  Isabel Paterson (2017). “God of the Machine”, p.323, Routledge

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• It is a juvenile notion that a society needs a lofty purpose and a shining vision to achieve much. Both in the market place and on the battlefield men who set their hearts on toys have often displayed unequal initiative and drive. And one must be ignorant of the creative process to look for a close correspondence between motive and achievement in the world of thought and imagination.

  Eric Hoffer

  Heart, Men, Imagination

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• Even in political considerations, now-a-days, you have stronger motives to feel interested in the fate of Europe than in the fate of the Central or Southern parts of America.

  Lajos Kossuth

  Fate, Europe, America

  Lajos Kossuth, Francis William Newman (1854). “Select Speeches of Kossuth”, p.56

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• The last motive in the world for acquiring vocabulary should be to impress. Words should be acquired because we urgently need them - to convey, to reach, to express something within us, and to understand others.

  Vanna Bonta

  Vocabulary, Needs, World

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• A patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has, for himself, neither hope nor fear, neither kindness nor resentment, but refers every thing to the common interest

  Samuel Johnson

  Country, Kindness, Patriotism

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1857). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.423

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• Next time I go into the action - I shall command a hundred men - & possibly I may bring off some coup. Besides I shall have some other motive for taking chances than merely "love of adventure".

  Winston Churchill

  Adventure, Men, May

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• Take a good long look at human beings in their actual practices and motives; bring the utmost psychological and bio-economic factors to bear on making sense of their illusions and delusions. What then would the truth have to be, such that such human beings are FIT TO KNOW IT at all, even provisionally or tentatively?

  Kenny Smith

  Fitness, Truth, Practice

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• God alone is perfectly and consistently just. We forget; God remembers. We see an action; God sees a motive. This qualifies Him as the best recordkeeper and judge.

  Charles R. Swindoll

  Christian, Judging, Religion

  Charles R. Swindoll (2005). “Day by Day with Charles Swindoll”, p.385, Thomas Nelson

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• In later years, it was common, and I was guilty in this respect, to question the motives of those who joined the new British armies at the outbreak of the Great War, but it must, in their honour and fairness to their memories, be said that they were motivated by the highest purpose, and died in their tens of thousands in Flanders and Gallipoli, believing that they were giving their lives in the cause of human liberty everywhere, including Ireland.

  Sean Lemass

  Memories, War, Believe

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• If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

  Edward Bernays

  Thinking, Small Numbers, Knowing

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• Why would the apostles lie?....Liars always lie for selfish reasons. If they lied, what was their motive, what did they get out of it? What they got out of it was misunderstanding, rejection, persecution, torture, and martyrdom. Hardly a list of perks!

  Peter Kreeft

  Life Changing, Liars, Lying

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• Clarity, clarity, surely clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world, A limited, limiting clarity I have not and never did have any motive of poetry But to achieve clarity.

  George Oppen

  Beautiful, World, Clarity

  George Oppen (2008). “New Collected Poems”, p.193, New Directions Publishing

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• We are not wise enough, pure enough, or strong enough to aim and sustain such a single motive over a lifetime. That way lies fanaticism or failure. But if the single motive is the master motivation of God's calling, the answer is yes. In any and all situations, both today and tomorrow's tomorrow, God's call to us is the unchanging and ultimate whence, what, why, and whither of our lives. Calling is a 'yes' to God that carries a 'no' to the chaos of modern demands. Calling is the key to tracing the story line of our lives and unriddling the meaning of our existence in a chaotic world.

  Os Guinness

  Wise, Strong, Motivation

  Os Guinness (2003). “The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life”, p.170, Thomas Nelson Inc

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• The motive of art comes to us not from what exists, but from the notion that there is something higher, something nobler, something richer, and that what exists corresponds only partially to all of this.

  Abraham Kuyper

  Art, Notion, Higher

  "Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art".

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• One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and soul. and sooner than that I should seek escape from the sacred necessity that is laid upon me, let the breath of life fail me. It is this: That in spite of all worldly opposition, God's holy ordinances shall be established again in the home, in the school and in the State for the good of the people; to carve as it were into the conscience of the nation the ordinances of the Lord, to which Bible and Creation bear witness, until the nation pays homage again to God

  Abraham Kuyper

  Passion, Home, School

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• All impediments in fancy's course Are motives of more fancy.

  William Shakespeare

  Fancy, Courses, Impediments

  William Shakespeare (2001). “All's Well that Ends Well”, p.82, Courier Corporation

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• There is no reason why humanity cannot be served equally by weighty and trivial motives.

  Eric Hoffer

  Humanity, Reason Why, No Reason

  Eric Hoffer (1996). “The Passionate State of Mind”

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• The weak are not a noble breed. Their sublime deeds of faith, daring, and self-sacrifice usually spring from questionable motives. The weak hate not wickedness but weakness; and one instance of their hatred of weakness is hatred of self. All the passionate pursuits of the weak are in some degree a striving to escape, blur, or disguise an unwanted self. It is a striving shot through with malice, envy, self-deception, and a host of petty impulses; yet it often culminates in superb achievements.

  Eric Hoffer

  Hate, Spring, Sacrifice

  Eric Hoffer (1963). “The Ordeal of Change”

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• To follow implies not only the denying of one's own clarity, investigation, integrity and honesty, but it also implies that your motive in following is reward.

  Jiddu Krishnamurti

  Honesty, Integrity, Rewards

  "This Light in Oneself". Jiddu Krishnamurti's 4th public talk in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, jkrishnamurti.org. May 19, 1968.

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• It is possible to work across the aisle in Washington, but it's hard. And I think it's been made worse by the kind of 24-hour news cycle, the fact that everything is on TV before you can work things out quietly. I think it's the intensity of information that makes it feel more difficult to get things done. But I didn't leave with a bitter taste about the politics. The one thing that I would say is, I do think there is an unfortunate tendency to turn political differences, or policy differences, into critiques of one another's character or motives, and that's unfortunate.

  Condoleezza Rice

  Character, Thinking, Political

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• Too many people embrace religion from the same motives that they take a companion in wedlock, not from true love of the person, but because of a large dowry.

  Hosea Ballou

  People, Dowry, Embrace

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• Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen, and you need not search for truth; truth will find you.

  Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

  Self, Needs, Seeking

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• The trouble with selfish motives is that they harden into principles, and you end up sending your kids to war for them.

  Robert Breault

  Selfish, War, Kids

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• The sun alone appears, by virtue of his dignity and power, suited for this motive duty (of moving the planets) and worthy to become the home of God himself.

  Johannes Kepler

  Moving, Home, Sun

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• When they can't win a debate (can they ever?), leftists deploy what the late novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand called the argument from intimidation. Instead of trying to refute the other side, they label their opponents' position evil, attribute sinister motives to its adherents, and charge that its proponents are encouraging violence.

  Don Feder

  Winning, Evil, Trying

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