Human nature I always thought the most useful object of humane reason, and to make the consideration of it pleasant and entertaining, I always thought the best employment of humane wit: other parts of philosophy may perhaps make us wiser, but this not only answers to that end, but makes us better too. Hence it was that the Oracle pronounced Socrates the wisest of all men living, because he judiciously made choice of human nature for the object of his thoughts; an enquiry into which as much exceeds all other learning, as it is of more consequence to adjust the true nature and measures of right and wrong, than to settle the distance of the planets, and compute the times of their circumvolutions. Alexander Pope, On Reason and Passion
Human nature is governed by general self-interest and affected by genetic predisposition, which implies that there are likely to be limits to our moral sensitivities. Nayef Al-Rodhan, Emotional Amoral Egoism, 2008
Human nature is the same now as when Adam hid from the presence of God; the consciousness of wrong makes us unwilling to meet those whom we have offended. Matthew Simpson, Sermons, 1885
Human nature is evil; its goodness derives from conscious activity. Now it is human nature to be born with a fondness for profit. Indulging this leads to contention and strife, and the sense of modesty and yielding with which one was born disappears. One is born with feelings of envy and hate, and, by indulging these, one is led into banditry and theft, so that the sense of loyalty and good faith with which he was born disappears. One is born with the desires of the ears and eyes and with a fondness for beautiful sights and sounds, and, by indulging these, one is led to licentiousness and chaos, so that the sense of ritual, rightness, refinement, and principle with which one was born is lost. Hence, following human nature and indulging human emotions will inevitably lead to contention and strife, causing one to rebel against one’s proper duty, reduce principle to chaos, and revert to violence. Therefore one must be transformed by the example of a teacher and guided by the way of ritual and rightness before one will attain modesty and yielding, accord with refinement and ritual, and return to order. Xun Zi, Human Nature is Evil
The more one analyses people, the more all reasons for analysis disappear. Sooner or later one comes to that dreadful universal thing called human nature. Oscar Wilde
Really I don’t like human nature unless all candied over with art. Virginia Woolf
He held that education had as yet but little affected the beats of emotion and impulse on which domestic happiness depends. It was probable that, in the lapse of ages, improved systems of moral and intellectual training would appreciably, perhaps considerably, elevate the involuntary and even the unconscious instincts of human nature. Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man. Francis Bacon, Essays: ‘Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature’, 1625
Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart. Anne Frank
Human nature is the same in all professions. Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
The thing about her is, she’s good-natured. He knew it the second he saw her standing by the parking meters. He could just tell from the soft way her belly looked. With women, you keep bumping against them, because they want different things, they’re a different race. Either they give, like a plant, or scrape, like a stone. In all the green world nothing feels as good as a woman’s good nature. John Updike, Rabbit, Run
Mississippi: This state was segregated: it was Us and Them. Jim Crow may be long behind us but the state is still separate, still divided … Is this tribalism part of human nature? The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman s1e2: Us and Them, National Geographic 2017
The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill. W Somerset Maugham