Human Nature Quotes

Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted, that though man loved his fellow, yet man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes with his benevolence. ~ Moby Dick by Herman Melville Of all ruins, that of a fine man is the saddest. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle What can we know? What are we all? Poor silly half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts. ~ The Stark Munro Letters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle He was bolder in the daylight--most men are. ~ The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens She was perfectly quiet now, but not asleep--only soothed by sweet porridge and warmth into that wide-gazing calm which makes us older human beings, with our inward turmoil, feel a certain awe in the presence of a little child, such as we feel before some quiet majesty or beauty in the earth or sky--before a steady glowing planet, or a full-flowered eglantine, or the bending trees over a silent pathway. ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot Instead of trying to still his fears, he encouraged them, with that superstitious impression which clings to us all, that if we expect evil very strongly it is the less likely to come. ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot A man will tell you that he has worked in a mine for forty years unhurt by an accident as a reason why he should apprehend no danger, though the roof is beginning to sink. ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot The yoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will breed hate in the kindliest nature. ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot Do we not wile away moments of inanity or fatigued waiting by repeating some trivial movement or sound, until the repetition has bred a want, which is incipient habit? ~ Silas Marner by George Eliot It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them. ~ The Man Upstairs by P. G. Wodehouse