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Motive Quotes by Samuel Johnson
- What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn't deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.
- We are all prompted by the same motives, all deceived by the same fallacies, all animated by hope, obstructed by danger, entangled by desire, and…
- In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is…
- The morality of an action depends on the motive from which we act. If I fling half a crown to a beggar with intention to…
- It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives…
- Vanity is so frequently the apparent motive of advice that we, for the most part, summon our powers to oppose it without very accurate inquiry…
- A patriot is he whose public conduct is regulated by one single motive, the love of his country; who, as an agent in parliament, has,…
- From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,- Path, motive, guide, original, and end.
- In the motive lies the good or ill.
- Actions are visible, though motives are secret.
- The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.
- Human benevolence is mingled with vanity, interest, or some other motive
More Motive Quotes
- Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are… — 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… — 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… — 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… — 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… — Ezra Taft Benson