best quotations about
Motives |
| 52 quotes | Visits: 1,955 |
Quotations
 | Women inspire us to do great things and prevent us from accomplishing them. — Alexandre Dumas, 1802-1870, French writer 10 likes |
 | Women do not sleep with men, but with abstract concepts: power, power, reputation, money, fashion… — Jean Dutourd, 1920-2011, French writer 10 likes |
 | The road to hell is paved with good intentions. — St Bernard de Clairvaux, 1091-1153, French saint & abbot of the Cistercian order 9 likes |
 | Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 9 likes |
 | People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 7 likes |
 | There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive. — Thomas Jefferson, 1749-1826, American President [1801-1809] 6 likes |
| A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 5 likes |
 | People always try to find base motives behind every good action. We are afraid of pure goodness and of pure evil. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 5 likes |
 | People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent. — Bob Dylan, 1941-, American singer [Nobel 2016] 5 likes |
 | In twenty years the feelings reigns, in the thirty years a talent reigns, in the forty years a reason reigns. — Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658, Spanish writer 5 likes |
 | I don’t like where I’m going and I don’t like where I’ve been. Why am I in a hurry? — Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer 5 likes |
 | Whoever does not philosophize for the sake of philosophy, but rather uses philosophy as a means, is a sophist. — Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829, German writer 4 likes |
 | First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent. — Michael Caine, 1933-, English actor 4 likes |
 | Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and that to those we obey without knowing it. — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 4 likes |
 | Thus every action must be due to one or other of seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, anger, or appetite. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 3 likes |
 | Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad. — Joseph Roux, 1834-1905, French clergyman & poet 3 likes |
 | History has been written not by the most talented but by the most motivated. — Peter Drucker, 1909–2005, Austrian management guru 3 likes |
 | The way you motivate a football team is to eliminate the unmotivated ones. — Lou Holtz, 1937-, American football coach 3 likes |
 | Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own. — James Barrie, 1860-1937, English writer 3 likes |
 | A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 2 likes |
 | Men are driven by two principal impulses, either by love or by fear. — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian political philosopher 2 likes |
| People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing, that’s why we recommend it daily. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 2 likes |
 | Kings fight for empires, madmen for applause. — John Dryden, 1631-1700, English poet 2 likes |
 | Love for the joy of loving, and not for the offerings of someone else’s heart. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 2 likes |
 | People’s behavior makes sense if you think about it in terms of their goals, needs, and motives. — Thomas Mann, 1875-1955, German writer [Nobel 1929] 1 likes |
 | He who kills out of selfishness kills a little. Out of ambition, a lot. From ideology, monstrously. |
 | A person usually has two reasons for doing something, a good reason and the real reason. |
 | I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear Readers, are an afterthought. |
 | The whole motivation for any performer is “Look at me, Ma”. |
 | Cruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity. |
 | Don't be tempted to ask, “Will we win? Will we be defeated?” Just fight! |
 | The mischief of children is seldom actuated by malice; that of grown-up people always is. |
 | You don’t make art out of good intentions. |
 | The quest for fire occurred not because anyone knew what the practical uses for fire would be, but because it was fascinating. |
 | The only work that spiritually purifies us is that which is done without personal motives. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things. |
 | What you do for money you do badly. |
 | People do things for “their” reasons, not ours. So find their reasons. |
| When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. |
| No one plants rosebushes for the thorns. — Marty Rubin, 1930-1994, Canadian gay activist, author & journalist |
 | Most of the people who have grabbed hold of climate change and greenhouse gases, pollution, oil dependency - they have another motive, and their motive is to attain the appearance of virtue without having actually done anything virtuous. |
 | I'm a strange person. Sometimes I hardly know what I'm going to do or say next. Sometimes I seem a stranger to myself. Sometimes what I do surprises me and I can't understand why I do it. |
| You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences. |
 | The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. |
 | It is admirable to die the victim of one's faith; it is sad to die the dupe of one's ambition. |
 | The more physical the activity, the less the difficulties will be. The more the activity becomes intellectual and turns into motives, which exercise a determining influence on the commander’s will, the more the difficulties will increase. — Carl von Clausewitz, 1780-1831, Prussian military theorist |
 | It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything, without having to bother to deal with facts or logic. |
Ancient Greek
 | Focus on the essence of a thing, whether it be through actions or motives or appearances. Πρόσεχε τω υποκειμένω ή τη ενεργεία ή τω δόγματι ή τω σημαινομένω. — Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, Roman Emperor ‐ Meditations VII, 22 ((Hannibal Lecter paraphrased this…)) 6 likes |
 | Do nothing only for money. Μηδέν χρημάτων ένεκα πράττειν. — Periander of Corinth, 668-584 BC, tyrant of Corinth 5 likes |
 | All wars are made for the acquisition of assets. Δια την των χρημάτων κτήσιν πάντες οι πόλεμοι γίγνονται. — Plato, 427-347 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 3 likes |
Proverbs
 | A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. 5 likes |
Movie Quotes
 | A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he's worth something. And if I know for sure that I'm a genius? Why write then? What the hell for? — from the film Stalker (1979) 5 likes |
