Motive Quotes

782 quotes by 571 authors

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects… — Teresa of Avila
Young gentlemen, who are to display their knowledge to the world, should have every motive of emulation, should be formed into regular classes, should read… — Anna Letitia Barbauld
You will find in politics that you are much exposed to the attribution of false motive. Never complain and never explain. — Stanley Baldwin
If you're against globalisation, it doesn't achieve much by sort of bombing the head offices of Shell or Nestle. You unsettle people much more by… — J. G. Ballard
Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own. — James M. Barrie
That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel? — Joseph Addison
God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any more than a boat without steam or a balloon without… — Henry Ward Beecher
Would we not do well to have the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate ourselves above our brother and… — Ezra Taft Benson
We acknowledge but one motive - to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever it may lead us; but in our heart of hearts… — Mortimer Adler
It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men. — Jean de la Bruyere
We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men. But witness how men with motives and… — Robert Byrd
We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive. — Lord Byron
To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all. — Lord Byron
When the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive. — Miguel de Cervantes
Do I get up every morning and ask: am I doing the things that I believe in and am I doing them for the best… — Nick Clegg
It is quite an old-fashioned fallacy to suppose that our objection to scepticism is that it removes the discipline from life. Our objection to scepticism… — Gilbert K. Chesterton
There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind… — Alexander Hamilton
We went all the way down the Himalayan chain for a day and a half. That was magnificent, except the Chinese told us they were… — Richard Branson
Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are… — Toni Morrison
...the crimes of violence committed for selfish, personal motives are historically insignificant compared to those committed ad majorem gloriam Dei, out of a self-sacrificing devotion… — Arthur Koestler

Who Wrote These Motive Quotes

571 authors contributed a total of 782 Motive Quotes, led by these top contributors: