Motive Quotes - Page 25

• The young men were born with knives in their brain, a tendency to introversion, self-dissection, anatomizing of motives.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Self, Knives

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Illustrated)”, p.2821, Delphi Classics

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• Probability is not about the odds, but about the belief in the existence of an alternative outcome, cause, or motive.

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  Odds, Alternatives, Outcomes

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007). “Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets”, p.224, Penguin UK

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• When we do not know the truth of a thing, it is good that there should exist a common error which determines the mind of man, as, for example, the moon, to which is attributed the change of seasons, the progress of diseases, etc. For the chief malady of man is a restless curiosity about things which he cannot understand; and it is not so bad for him to be in error as to be curious to no purpose.

  Blaise Pascal

  Truth, Men, Moon

  Blaise Pascal (2013). “Pascal's Pensees”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

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• Nothing stinks like a pile of unpublished writing, which remark I guess shows I still don't have a pure motive (O it's-such-fun-I-just-can't-stop-who-cares-if-it's-published-or-read) about writing.

  Sylvia Plath

  Fun, Writing, Who Cares

  sylvia plath (1971). “the bell jar”

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• sacrifice' was often a cloak for many actions that did not always stem from the highest motives.

  Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

  Sacrifice, Action, Cloaks

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• Virtue will catch as well as vice by contact; and the public stock of honest manly principle will daily accumulate. We are not too nicely to scrutinize motives as long as action is irreproachable. It is enough (and for a worthy man perhaps too much) to deal out its infamy to convicted guilt and declared apostasy.

  Edmund Burke

  Men, Long, Guilt

  Edmund Burke (2008). “The Writings and Speeches of Edmund Burke: On Conciliation with America; Security of the Independence of Parliament; on Mr. Fox's East India”, p.242, Cosimo, Inc.

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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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• Leadership, in short, is power governed by principle, directed toward raising people to their highest levels of personal motive and social morality.

  James MacGregor Burns

  People, Principles, Levels

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• Within a lot of African-American households, I think, there's an idea that black men don't want to take an active participation in the lives of their children. That if they do, there has to be some sort of ulterior motive.

  Gabrielle

  Children, Thinking, Men

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• Obviously, Jews gain certain advantages by promoting the Holocaust idea. It inspires tremendous financial aid for Israel. It makes organized Jewry almost immune from criticism. Whether the Holocaust is real or not, the Jews clearly have a motive for fostering the idea that it occurred. Not only do they have a motive, but they have the means with the media domination they now hold.

  David Duke

  Real, Mean, Israel

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• The media are doing this, not because they have a sinister motive, but because they love to feel that they are influencing events. That's why they hate politicians so much, because politicians have direct power and they do not.

  Ben Aaronovitch

  Hate, Media, Events

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• Liberals and leftists have been dismissing inconvenient facts by attacking motives for generations. In the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Soviet spies and abettors attacked the motives of their accusers because the fact of their guilt was undeniable. In the 1960s, over a thousand psychiatrists who'd never even met Barry Goldwater signed a petition saying the GOP candidate was too mentally unstable to be president.

  Jonah Goldberg

  Guilt, Spy, President

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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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• It is more important to understand the ground of your own behavior than to understand the motives of another.

  Dag Hammarskjold

  Character, Important, Behavior

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• The power generated of ten minds for good is superior to that of ten thousand minds acting on a lower motive. But it is a silent power. It moves in mysterious ways. It is noiseless. It makes no show of open opposition. It uses no methods of effort through tongue or arm or physical force.

  Prentice Mulford

  Moving, Effort, Mind

  Prentice Mulford (2012). “Your Forces And How To Use Them (Complete Annotated Edition)”, p.203, Jazzybee Verlag

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• Magnanimity will not consider the prudence of its motives.

  Luc de Clapiers

  Generosity, Prudence, Magnanimity

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• It is because of the hasty and superficial conversation with God that the sense of sin is so weak and that no motives have power to help you to hate and flee from sin as you should.

  Aiden Wilson Tozer

  Hate, Helping, Sin

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• In my opinion, the form of Government may be different in different countries, according to their circumstances, their wishes, their wants. England loves her Queen, and has full motive to do so.

  Lajos Kossuth

  Country, Queens, Government

  Lajos Kossuth (1851). “Authentic Life of ... Louis Kossuth ... With a full Report of his Speeches delivered in England ... To which is added his Address to the People of the United States of America”, p.77

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• The only treaties that ought to count are those which would effect a settlement between ulterior motives.

  Paul Valery

  Settlement, Treaties, Ought

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• The good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue.

  Charles Caleb Colton

  Men, Fellow Man, Opinion

  Charles Caleb Colton (1836). “Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Addressed to Those who Think”, p.365

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• Man sees your actions, but God your motives.

  Thomas a Kempis

  Men, Action

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• In the motive lies the good or ill.

  Samuel Johnson

  Lying, Ill

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