Gaining insight into one's underlying motives, it seems…

We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.

— Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The deduction of effect from cause is often blocked by some insuperable extrinsic obstacle: the true causes may be quite unknown. Nowhere in life…

— Carl von Clausewitz

Dualistic doctrines that regard mind and body as separate entities do not provide much enlightenment on the nature of the disembodied mental state or…

— Albert Bandura

Self-appraisals of efficacy are reasonably accurate, but they diverge from action because people do not know fully what they will have to do, lack…

— Albert Bandura

Stringent standards of self-evaluation [can] make otherwise objective successes seem to be personal failures

— Albert Bandura

Perceived self-inefficacy predicts avoidance of academic activities whereas anxiety does not

— Albert Bandura

Forceful actions arising from erroneous beliefs often create social effects that confirm the misbeliefs

— Albert Bandura

Behavior must also be adequately assessed under appropriate circumstances. Ill-defined global measures of perceived self-efficacy or defective assessments of performance will yield discordances. Disparities…

— Albert Bandura

People who regard themselves as highly efficacious act, think, and feel differently from those who perceive themselves as inefficacious. They produce their own future,…

— Albert Bandura

[Children] receive direct instruction from time to time about the appropriateness of various social comparisons

— Albert Bandura

Reasonably accurate appraisal of one's own capabilities is, therefore, of considerable value in successful functioning. Large misjudgments of personal efficacy in either direction have…

— Albert Bandura

People who have a sense of self-efficacy bounce back from failure; they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying…

— Albert Bandura

Agemates provide the most informative points of reference for comparative efficacy appraisal and verification. Children are, therefore, especially sensitive to their relative standing among…

— Albert Bandura

Self-efficacy is the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the sources of action required to manage prospective situations.

— Albert Bandura

Persons who have a strong sense of efficacy deploy their attention and effort to the demands of the situation and are spurred by obstacles…

— Albert Bandura