Henri Bergson
Philosopher
"The motive power of democracy is love"
Motive quotes
Motive
126 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Virgil
Poet
"That man is the most loyal who aims at the noblest motive, and that motive the public good."
Billy Graham
Evangelist, Author
"Be sure that your motive in praying is to glorify God."
Leon Trotsky
Revolutionary, Politician
"The motive force of history is truth and not lies."
Sri Aurobindo
Philosopher, Poet, Politician
"The only work that spiritually purifies us is that which is done without personal motives."
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Topics related to Motive
Browse quotes that often appear alongside motive — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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Motive quotes (page 1 of 7)
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"I have harnessed the cosmic rays and caused them to operate a motive device."
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"No one is willing to acknowledge a fault in himself when a more agreeable motive can be found for the estrangement of his acquaintances."
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"The distance is nothing when one has a motive."
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"We must never forget that human motives are generally far more complicated than we are apt to suppose, and that we can very rarely accurately describe the motives of another."
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"Glory ought to be the consequence, not the motive of our actions."
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"See a person's means ... Observe his motives. Examine that in which he rests. How can a person conceal his character?"
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"The motive of success is not enough."
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"Words can be worrisome, poeple complex, motives and manners unclear, grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear."
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"One of the deepest motives (as you are aware) in the human beast (so deep that many have failed to detect it) is Alliteration."
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"One cannot live without motives. I have no motives left, and I am living."
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"There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive."
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"The noblest motive is the public good."
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"The directing motive, the end and aim of capitalist production, is to extract the greatest possible amount of surplus value, and consequently to exploit labor-power to the greatest possible extent."
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"In a promise, what you thought, and not what you said, is always to be considered."
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"The concessions of the privileged to the unprivileged are seldom brought about by any better motive than the power of the unprivileged to extort them."
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"Never question another man's motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives."
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"And all shall be well and/ All manner of thing shall be well/ By the purification of the motive/ In the ground of our beseeching"
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"The writer, like the murderer, needs a motive."
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"Never mistake motive for action."
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"Profit per se is not my motive."
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