Quotations on Human Nature

An unlearned carpenter of my acquaintance once said in my hearing: 'There is very little difference between one man and another, but what there is is very important.'

~ William James

In this world, a man must either be anvil or hammer.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The opinions which we hold of one another, our relations with friends and kinfolk are in no sense permanent, save in appearance, but are as eternally fluid as the sea itself.

~ Marcel Proust

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

~ Albert Einstein

Most human beings have an absolute and infinite capacity for taking things for granted.

~ Aldous Huxley

It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.

~ Anatole France

It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.

~ John Andrew Holmes

Human nature is potentially aggressive and destructive and potentially orderly and constructive.

~ Margaret Mead

There is a great deal of human nature in people.

~ Mark Twain

It is easier to love humanity than to love one's neighbor.

~ Eric Hoffer

My nature is subdued to what it works in, like the dyer's hand.

~ William Shakespeare

Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.

~ Charles Lamb

We should expect the best and the worst from mankind, as from the weather.

~ Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open.

~ Sir Francis Bacon

It will be very generally found that those who will sneer habitually at human nature, and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant samples.

~ Charles Dickens

The middle class prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly consuming inner fire.

~ Herman Hesse

I am a part of all that I have met.

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.

~ Erich Fromm