Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional activity. — Xunzi
Men's natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them. — Confucius
Human nature is a constant, and when you put that constant into different environments, it produces different behavior. That makes environment the independent variable. — Tim Urban
Human nature provides sufficient distrust of all that is alien, so that there is no need of any artificial supply. — Calvin Coolidge
Human nature seems to me like the Alps. The depths are profound, black as night, and terrifying, but the heights are equally real, uplifted in the sunshine. — Emily Greene Balch
The propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component of human nature — John Bowlby
Every human being's essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature. — Lao Tzu
Cruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us. — Robinson Jeffers
Human beings are always going to find interesting ways of making a mess of their lives. It's human nature. — Jack Nicholson
Two things control men's nature, instinct and experience. — Blaise Pascal
The world has changed much in recent years, but human nature has changed little. — James Clear
Scenery is fine - but human nature is finer. — John Keats
Human beings are good, they have shadow, every single one of us has redeeming qualities and every single one of us has qualities that people can hold against us. That’s what makes us human. — Matt Bomer
Race hate isn't human nature; race hate is the abandonment of human nature. — Orson Welles
The Laws Of Human Nature Quotes
Nothing will stop us. The road to the stars is steep and dangerous. But we're not afraid . . . Space flights can't be stopped. This isn't the work of one man or even a group of men. It is a historical process which mankind is carrying out in accordance with the natural laws of human development. — Yuri Gagarin
What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature. — Voltaire
This is one of man's oldest riddles. How can the independence of human volition be harmonized with the fact that we are integral parts of a universe which is subject to the rigid order of nature's laws? — Max Planck
I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.
My feeling is religious insofar as I am imbued with the consciousness of the insufficiency of the human mind to understand more deeply the harmony of the Universe which we try to formulate as "laws of nature". — Albert Einstein
The universal human laws - need, love for the beloved, fear, hunger, periodic exaltation, the kindness that rises up naturally in the absence of hunger/fear/pain - are constant, predictable, reliable, universal, and are merely ornamented with the details of local culture. — George Saunders
There is but one law for all, namely that law which governs all law, the law of our Creator, the law of humanity, justice, equity - the law of nature and of nations. — Edmund Burke
Be patient with yourself, nothing in nature blooms all year.
Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course. — Kahlil Gibran
Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. — Samuel Adams
Man must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator. This will of his Maker is called the Law of Nature. This Law of Nature is superior to any other. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this. — William Blackstone
It seems to be almost a law of human nature that it is easier for people to agree on a negative program - on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of those better off - than on any positive task. — Friedrich August von Hayek
Selfish Human Nature Quotes
Selfishness is one of the principal fruits of the corruption of human nature; and it is obvious that selfishness disposes us to over-rate our good qualities, and to overlook or extenuate our defects. — William Wilberforce
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own human nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world. — M. Scott Peck
The root of humanly caused evil is not man's animal nature, not territorial aggression, or innate selfishness, but our need to gain self-esteem, deny our mortality, and achieve a heroic self-image. Our desire for the best is the cause of the worst. — Sam Keen
The axe forgets what the tree remembers.
Kindly politeness is the slow fruit of advanced reflection; it is a sort of humanity and kindliness applied to small acts and every day discourse: it bids man soften towards others, and forget himself for the sake of others: it constrains genuine nature, which is selfish and gross. — Hippolyte Taine
How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it. — Adam Smith
To practice properly the Art of Peace, you must: Calm the spirit and return to the source. Cleanse the body and spirit by removing all malice, selfishness, and desire. Be ever grateful for the gifts received from the universe, your family, Mother nature, and your fellow human beings. — Morihei Ueshiba
In every walk with the nature one receives far more than he seeks.
Human nature must have come much nearer perfection than it is now, or will be in many generations, to exclude from such a control prejudice, selfishness, ambition, and injustice. — Elihu Root
It is to the credit of human nature that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. — Nathaniel Hawthorne
We had one or another form of state capitalism during an extremely brief period of human history, which tells us essentially nothing about human nature. If you look at human societies and human interactions, you can find anything. You find selfishness, you find altruism, you find sympathy. — Noam Chomsky
We cannot doubt that self-interest is the mainspring of human nature. It must be clearly understood that this word is used here to designate a universal, incontestable fact, resulting from the nature of man, and not an adverse judgment, as would be the word selfishness. — Frederic Bastiat
Evil Human Nature Quotes
Man's natural and inevitable urge to deny mortality and achieve a heroic self-image are the root causes of human evil. — Ernest Becker
The state is concerned with the promotion of outward righteousness arising from the individual being constrained to keep the law. The Gospel alters human nature, whereas the state merely restrains human greed and evil, having no positive power to alter human motivation. — Alister E. McGrath
Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness. — William Shakespeare
All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.
Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been know to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature. — Mahatma Gandhi
There is something mean in human nature that prefers to think evil, that gives a willing ear and a ready welcome to calumny, a sort of jealousy of goodness and greatness and things of good report. — Richard Le Gallienne
To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less. — Plato
The greatest oak was once a little nut who held her ground.
Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another. — Joseph Addison
Human nature is so constituted that the propensity for evil is always intensified by external circumstances, and the morality of the individual depends much more on the conditions of his existence and the environment in which he lives than on his own will. — Mikhail Bakunin
Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all seem to. And they all seem to think human nature is basically good, or they wouldn't be surprised by the effects of deregulation. — Jane Smiley
All these words, words like 'evil' and 'vicious', they meant nothing to Nature. Yes, evil was a human invention. — John Marsden
Humanity And Nature Quotes
The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach. — Le Corbusier
If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut — Albert Einstein
Everything on earth is beautiful, everything -- except what we ourselves think and do when we forget the higher purposes of life and our own human dignity. — Anton Chekhov
Each time you read a book, a tree smiles knowing there's life after death.
The greatest need in the world is the transformation of human nature. We need a new heart that will not have lust and greed and hate in it. We need a heart filled with love and peace and joy, and that is why Jesus came into the world. — Billy Graham
Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. — Nelson Mandela
it is the nature of human beings, and especially of the mediocre ones, to wish to change everything. They desire it all the more because they know popularity will accrue rather to those who disturb than to those who maintain order. — Marie Antoinette
Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.
I am by nature a dealer in words, and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity. — Rudyard Kipling
Heaven is by favor; if it were by merit your dog would go in and you would stay out. Of all the creatures ever made (man) is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one... that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. — Mark Twain
It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sakes and not for the sake of anything else. — Maimonides
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. — Nelson Mandela
Nature Of Man Quotes
Love is man's natural endowment, but he doesn't know how to use it. He refuses to recognize the power of love because of his love of power. — Dick Gregory
Illnesses do not come upon us out of the blue. They are developed from small daily sins against Nature. When enough sins have accumulated, illnesses will suddenly appear. — Hippocrates
But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself. — Rachel Carson
It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. — William Blake
Education develops the intellect; and the intellect distinguishes man from other creatures. It is education that enables man to harness nature and utilize her resources for the well-being and improvement of his life — Haile Selassie
The right of nature... is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his own life. — Thomas Hobbes
Be still, and the earth will speak to you.
For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it. — Jacques Yves Cousteau
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind. — Mahatma Gandhi
Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. — Marquis de Lafayette
There is but one mode by which man can possess in perpetuity all the happiness which his nature is capable of enjoying, - that is by the union and co-operation of all for the benefit of each. — Robert Owen
Human Qualities Quotes
To my mind, having a care and concern for others is the highest of the human qualities. — Fred Hollows
Leadership is the sum of those qualities of intellect, human understanding, and moral character that enables a person to inspire and control a group of people successfully. — John A. Lejeune
Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential. — Bruce Lee
We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we have lost our connection to ourselves.
To write history is as important as to make history. It is an unchanging truth that if the writer does not remain true to the maker, then it takes on a quality that will confuse humanity. — Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Dance training can't be separate from life training. Everything that comes into our lives is training. The qualities we admire in great dancing are the same qualities we admire in human beings: honesty, courage, fearlessness, generosity, wisdom, depth, compassion,and humanity. — Alonzo King
Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures. — Gaylord Nelson
The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers. — Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The true essence of humankind is kindness. There are other qualities which come from education or knowledge, but it is essential, if one wishes to be a genuine human being and impart satisfying meaning to one's existence, to have a good heart." — Dalai Lama
For our personal advancement in virtue and truth one quality is sufficient, namely, love; to advance humanity there must be two, love and intelligence; to accomplish the Great Work there must be three love, intelligence, and activity. And yet love is ever the root and the source. — Louis Claude de Saint-Martin
Unique Nature Quotes
Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque. — U.G. Krishnamurti
Mushrooms are miniature pharmaceutical factories, and of the thousands of mushroom species in nature, our ancestors and modern scientists have identified several dozen that have a unique combination of talents that improve our health. — Paul Stamets
We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. — Alan Watts
Chernobyl is a unique place on the planet, where nature revives after a world-wide man-made disaster, where there is a real 'ghost town.' — Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Each of the world religions has its own particular genius, its own special insight into the nature and requirements of compassion, and has something unique to teach us. — Karen Armstrong
What constitutes a real, live human being is more of a mystery than ever these days, and men -- each one of whom is a valuable, unique experiment on the part of nature -- are shot down wholesale. — Hermann Hesse
The unique nature about the influenza virus is its great potential for changes, for mutation. — Margaret Chan
The two go hand in hand like a dance: chance flirts with necessity, randomness with determinism. To be sure, it is from this interchange that novelty and creativity arise in Nature, thereby yielding unique forms and novel structures. — Eric Chaisson
In nature everything is valuable, everything has its place. The rose, the daisy, the lark, the squirrel, each is different but beautiful. Each has its own expression. Each flower its' own fragrance. Each bird its' own song. So you too have your own unique melody. — Diane Dreher
Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever. — Ernest Becker
Man And Nature Quotes
There must be a world revolution which puts an end to all materialistic conditions hindering woman from performing her natural role in life and driving her to carry out man's duties in order to be equal in rights. — Colonel Muhammar Qaddafi
Most people have forgotten how to live with living creatures, with living systems and that, in turn, is the reason why man, whenever he comes into contact with nature, threatens to kill the natural system in which and from which he live. — Konrad Lorenz
Prayer is spiritual communication between man and God, a two-way relationship in which man should not only talk to God but also listen to Him. Prayer to God is like a child's conversation with his father. It is natural for a child to ask his father for the things he needs. — Billy Graham
Blame where you must, be candid where you can, And be each critic the Good-natured Man. — Oliver Goldsmith
We need a plague. It's gotta happen. And don't worry, it's only gonna kill the weak. Seriously. Put on a sweater, take some vitamins, you're gonna be fine! We gotta let mother nature do her
thing, man. She keeps trying to help us out and we won't let her do it. — Bill Burr
All men were made brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be content when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. — Chief Joseph
Man's nature is made up of four elements, which produce in him four attributes, namely, the beastly, the brutal, the satanic, and the divine. In man there is something of the pig, the dog, the devil, and the saint. — Al-Ghazali
All that man needs for health and healing has been provided by God in nature, the Challenge of science is to find it. — Paracelsus
I believe nature's a lot smarter than anyone thinks. During the course of a man's life he develops a lot of pleasures and people he cares about. Then nature takes them away one by one. It's her way of preparing you for death. — Cus D'Amato
True Nature Quotes
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. — Henry David Thoreau
Your true nature is that of infinite spirit. The feeling of limitation is the work of the mind. — Ramana Maharshi
As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality. — Adi Shankara
Mother Nature is the true artist and our job as cooks is to allow her to shine. — Marco Pierre White
Each thing tends to move towards its own nature. I always desire happiness which is my true nature. My nature is never a burden to me. Happiness is never a burden to me, whilst sorrow is. — Adi Shankara
Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist. — Lise Meitner
Strange that so much suffering is caused because of the misunderstandings of God's true nature. God's heart is more gentle than the Virgin's first kiss upon the Christ. And God's forgiveness to all, to any thought or act, is more certain than our own being. — St. Catherine of Siena
Love is our true essence. Love has no limitations of caste, religion, race, or nationality. We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love. To awaken this unity-and to spread to others the love that is our inherent nature-is the true goal of human life. — Mata Amritanandamayi
I am naturally fond of adventure, a little ambitious, and a good deal romantic - but patriotism was the true secret of my success. — Sarah Emma Edmonds
For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It's a natural state. You will abide in that state forever. — Robert Adams
Human Condition Quotes
If you think for one second no one knows what you've been going through; be accepting of the fact that you are wrong, that the long drawn and heavy breaths of despair have at times been felt by everyone - that pain is part of the human condition and that alone makes you a legion. — Shane Koyczan
Ordinary love is selfish, darkly rooted in desires and satisfactions. Divine love is without condition, without boundary, without change. The flux of the human heart is gone forever at the transfixing touch of pure love. — Sri Yukteswar Giri
Don't think about what can happen in a month. Don't think about what can happen in a year. Just focus on the 24 hours in front of you and do what you can to get closer to where you want to be! — Eric Thomas
Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural, but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. — Walter Brueggemann
We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live. — Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes. — George Soros
Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes. — George Soros
Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not 'yours,' not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you. — Eckhart Tolle
Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to Him in trust and confidence. — Billy Graham
The fate of the living planet is the most important issue facing mankind. — Gaylord Nelson
Men trust their ears less than their eyes. — Herodotus
Human intellect is natures attempt at self criticism — Muhammad Iqbal
Nothing has changed the nature of man so much as the loss of silence. — Max Picard
One can acquire everything in solitude except character. — Stendhal
The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to feel important. — John Dewey
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea. — Walter Bagehot
It belongs to human nature to hate those you have injured. — Tacitus
But little white lies here and there is human nature. Everybody does that. — Lucy Hale
Human behavior is subject to the same laws as any other natural phenomenon. Our customs, behaviors, and values are byproducts of our culture. No one is born with greed, prejudice, bigotry, patriotism and hatred; these are all learned behavior patterns. If the environment is unaltered, similar behavior will reoccur. — Jacque Fresco
If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind? — Frederic Bastiat
When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan. — William Paterson
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. — Dale Carnegie
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased. — Alexander Hamilton
It's not human nature to be great. It's human nature to survive, to be average and do what you have to do to get by. That is normal. When you have something good happen, it's the special people that can stay focused and keep paying attention to detail, working to get better and not being satisfied with what they have accomplished. — Nick Saban
Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth. — Liu Xiaobo
The natural world is the larger sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to diminish our own existence. — Thomas Berry
In Conclusion
Which quotation resonated with you best? Did you enjoy our collection of human nature quotes? Or may be you have a slogan about human nature to suggest. Let us know using our contact form.
Citation
Feel free to cite and use any of the quotes in this collection of human nature quotations. For popular citation styles(APA, Chicago, MLA), please use this citation page.
