Selfishness is the grand moving principle of nine-tenths of our actions. Votes: 2
Francois de La RochefoucauldI ago's soliloquy--the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity--how awful it is! Votes: 2
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeWhenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives. Votes: 2
Oscar WildeWe want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action. Votes: 2
Sarojini NaiduCruelty, like every other vice, requires no motive outside of itself; it only requires opportunity. Votes: 2
George EliotIn a promise, what you thought, and not what you said, is always to be considered. Votes: 2
Marcus Tullius CiceroThe people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. Votes: 2
Mao ZedongPrudent men lock up their motives, letting familiars have a key to their hearts, as to their garden. Votes: 2
William ShenstoneNo particular motive for living, except the custom and habit of it. Votes: 0
William Makepeace ThackerayWe often act treacherously more from weakness than from a fixed motive. Votes: 0
Francois de La RochefoucauldNever question another man's motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives. Votes: 0
Dwight D. EisenhowerI believe absolutely in love being the central motive force of the universe. Votes: 0
Laurence HousmanThe profit motive promotes economic growth by creating better products at cheaper prices. Votes: 0
Mark SkousenFear, either as a principle or a motive, is the beginning of all evil. Votes: 0
Anna Brownell JamesonThe old detective story that's got a really complicated motive doesn't apply to mine. Votes: 0
Ruth RendellFeeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations. Votes: 0
Albert EinsteinThe guiding motive of mankind should be charity towards men, charity towards all animals. Votes: 0
Swami VivekanandaWatch your motive before God; have no other motive in prayer than to know Him. Votes: 0
Oswald ChambersOur motive is not to prove our self-worth, but to live up to our possibilities. Votes: 0
Nathaniel BrandenTrue remorse is never just a regret over consequences; it is a regret over motive. Votes: 0
Mignon McLaughlinEvery man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act. Votes: 0
Claude Adrien HelvetiusThere is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive. Votes: 0
Thomas JeffersonThe Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself. Votes: 0
RamakrishnaThe fundamental motive of true teaching is the love that seeks and studies and performs. Votes: 0
Robert GrudinWar, waged from whatever motive, extinguishes the sentiment of reason and justice in the mind. Votes: 0
Percy Bysshe ShelleyAmerica - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose. Votes: 0
Herbert HooverWhat's stronger-the need to uphold the law, or the motive to turn one's back on it? Votes: 0
Jodi PicoultDistrust your judgment the moment you can discern the shadow of a personal motive in it. Votes: 0
Marie von Ebner-EschenbachTo exercise some sort of control over others is the secret motive of every selfish person. Votes: 0
Wallace D. WattlesCuriosity is the best motive for writing: curiosity about the world at large, or about oneself. Votes: 0
Michael KordaPictures are wasted unless the motive power which impelled you to action is strong and stirring. Votes: 0
Berenice AbbottThere is no such thing as an exact synonym and no such thing as an unmixed motive. Votes: 0
Katherine Anne PorterWhen the severity of the law is to be softened, let pity, not bribes, be the motive. Votes: 0
Miguel de CervantesTo truly know God we must long for Him without any other motive than reaching God Himself. Votes: 0
Aiden Wilson TozerFrom thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,- Path, motive, guide, original, and end. Votes: 0
Samuel JohnsonIf your motive is in any way to promote greatness for yourself, you're in the wrong calling. Votes: 0
Charles R. SwindollThe good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue. Votes: 0
Charles Caleb ColtonLiberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime... Votes: 0
Lord ActonThe first expression of religion was the dance, and the first motive of the dance was religion. Votes: 0
La MeriFor a war to be just three conditions are necessary - public authority, just cause, right motive. Votes: 0
Ernest HemingwayAn action is essentially good if the motive of the agent be good, regardless of the consequences. Votes: 0
Immanuel KantVanity is truly the motive power that moves humanity, and it is flattery that greases the wheels. Votes: 0
St. JeromeNever go into business purely to make money. If that's the motive you're better off doing nothing. Votes: 0
Richard BransonThat man is the most loyal who aims at the noblest motive, and that motive the public good. Votes: 0
VirgilIn all our actions, God considers the intention: whether we act for Him or for some other motive. Votes: 0
Maximus the ConfessorIn proportion as a man is selfish, so far has he receded from the motive which constitutes virtue. Votes: 0
Percy Bysshe ShelleyI could not sit down to write a serious romance under any other motive than to save my life. Votes: 0
Jane AustenWhen starting to think about any novel, part of the motive is: I'm going to show them, this time. Votes: 0
Kingsley AmisNo woman dares to refuse love without a motive, for nothing is more natural than to yield to love. Votes: 0
Honore de BalzacMy great crime in the world is blunder I will get into scrapes without intention or any bad motive. Votes: 0
Stand WatieGive a good deed the credit of a good motive; and give an evil deed the benefit of the doubt. Votes: 0
Brander MatthewsLife as a whole is simple, the complexities within it have to do with the motive of the human being. Votes: 0
Wayne ChirisaGroßherzigkeit ist der Klugheit keine Rechenschaft über ihre Motive schuldig.
Vauvenargues, Luc de Clapiers