#is

Royse Bergon: "I've seen your integrity in action. It...widened my world. I'd been raised by my father, who is a prudent, cautious man, always looking for men's hidden, selfish motivations. No one can cheat him. But I've seen him cheat himself. If you understand what I mean." Caz: "Yes." R.B.: "It was very foolish of you to attack that vile Roknari galley-man." Caz: "Yes." R.B.: "And yet, I think, given the same circumstances you would do it again." Caz: "Knowing what I know now...it would be harder. But I would hope... I would pray, Royse, that the gods would still lend me such foolishness in my need." R.B: "What is this astonishing foolishness, that shines brighter than all my father's gold? Can you teach me to be such a fool, too, Caz?" Caz: "Oh," "I'm sure of it. ↗

— Lois McMaster Bujold

#integrity #kindness #men

If the world were full of the self-seeking individuals found in economics textbooks, it would grind to a halt because we would be spending most of our time cheating, trying to catch the cheaters, and punishing the caught. The world works as it does only because people are not the totally self seeking agents that free-market economics believes them to be. We need to design an economic system that, while acknowledging that people are often selfish, exploits other human motives to the full and gets the best out of people. The likelihood is that, if we assume the worst about people, we will get the worst out of them. ↗

— Ha-Joon Chang

#economics #free-market #change

Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex. ↗

— Barbara W. Tuchman

#mankind #motivation #sex #sin #vainglory

True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels them the desire to do right is precisely the same. ↗

— Robert E. Lee

#patriotism #men

Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends. ↗

— Isabel Paterson

#humanitarianism #ideology #motivational

The most self-damaging words in the English language are: try, might, and if. These are words of uncertainty. Will you fail? That is possible. But continue doubting your abilities and you’ll never succeed. ↗

— Dannika Dark

#ability #confidence #damaged #damaging #doubt

How you look at it is pretty much how you'll see it ↗

— Rasheed Ogunlaru

#conditioning #cultural-differences #foresight #hindsight #motivational-quotes

The naivite, enthusiasm and idealism of young people is not a thing to be scorned, for it is the raw material of constructive growth... ↗

— Pennfield Jensen

#motivational #motivational

As an artist, my talents are not mine alone to just keep. My creations have to touch lives, spread love and let my skills be used only in good things but should be selfless not through selfish motives. In this manner, I am giving the gift back to my Master Creator." - Elizabeth's Quotes ↗

— Elizabeth E. Castillo

#elizabeth-e-castillo #love #love

The worse the coming future, the more it should motivate its opponents. ↗

— Leonard Peikoff

#philosophy #motivational