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human nature quotes

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“Perhaps it is only human nature to inflict suffering on anything that will endure suffering, whether by reason of its genuine humility, or indifference, or sheer helplessness.” Honoré de Balzac, Father Goriot
“We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable.” George Orwell, 1984
“The highest flights of charity, devotion, trust, patience, bravery to which the wings of human nature have spread themselves have been flown for religious ideals.” William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
“After the primary necessities of food and raiment, freedom is the first and strongest want of human nature.” John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women
“But men are men; the best sometimes forget:” William Shakespeare, Othello
“We make allowance for a certain degree of selfishness in men; because we know it to be inseparable from human nature, and inherent in our frame and constitution.” David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature
“It is only a novel . . . or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and...” Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
“Sometimes I lose faith in human nature for a time; I am assailed by doubt.” William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
“After all that has been said of the levity and inconstancy of human nature, it appears evidently from experience, that man is, of all sorts of luggage, the most difficult to be transported.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
“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, The Scarlet Letter
“But love is a strange master, and human nature is still stranger, so she asked her question.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes
“The general observations treasured up by a course of experience, give us the clue of human nature, and teach us to unravel all its intricacies. Pretexts and appearances no longer deceive us.” David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
“I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty.” Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
“We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.” George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
“That however the brains and abilities of men may differ, their stomachs are essentially the same.” F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

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novel love imperfection men life freedom reading mind religion experience suffering man intelligence hate doubt appearance indifference want tragedy wit

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David Hume (2)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1)
William Shakespeare (1)
Jane Austen (1)
George Orwell (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1)
Adam Smith (1)
Herman Melville (1)
John Stuart Mill (1)
William James (1)
William Faulkner (1)
Honoré de Balzac (1)

Related sources

Tarzan of the Apes (1)
Northanger Abbey (1)
1984 (1)
A Game of Thrones (1)
Moby-Dick (1)
The Wealth of Nations (1)
This Side of Paradise (1)
Othello (1)
The Scarlet Letter (1)
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1)
Father Goriot (1)
As I Lay Dying (1)
The Subjection of Women (1)
A Treatise of Human Nature (1)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1)