Instinct quotes

Instinct

446 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

446 quotes

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Instinct quotes (page 6 of 23)

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Blaise Pascal Mathematician, Physicist, Philosopher
Instinct

"Notwithstanding the sight of all our miseries, which press upon us and take us by the throat, we have an instinct which we cannot repress, and which lifts us up."

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William James Philosopher, Psychologist
Instinct

"The greatest empiricists among us are only empiricists on reflection: when left to their instincts, they dogmatize like infallible popes."

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William Shakespeare Playwright, Poet
Instinct

"See, what a ready tongue suspicion hath! He that but fears the thing he would not know, Hath, by instinct, knowledge from others' eyes, That what he feared is chanced."

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Rebecca West Novelist, Journalist
Instinct

"To make laws is a human instinct that arises as soon as food and shelter have been ensured, among all peoples, everywhere."

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Thomas Jefferson Politician, Founding Father
Instinct

"Nature [has] implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct, in short, which prompts us irresistibly to feel and to succor their distresses."

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Karl Abraham Psychoanalyst
Instinct

"Whereas the melancholic exhibits a state of general inhibition, in the manic patient even normal inhibitions of the instincts are partly or wholly abolished."

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Oscar Wilde Writer
Instinct

"I am afraid that woman appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated."

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Nicolas Cage Actor, Producer
Instinct

"Generally my instinct is to not do biographical movies. I want to build characters and not be locked into playing a part in history."

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Nicolas Cage Actor, Producer
Instinct

"I don't know why it is, but I do like dancing in the extreme situations. I like that noise, I like that intensity. For some reason, it's what I respond to in terms of my taste and of my instincts."

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George Orwell Writer, Journalist
Instinct

"What is to be expected of them is not treachery, or physcial cowardice, but stupidity, unconscious sabotage, an infallible instinct for doing the wrong thing."

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