{ "type": "topic", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature", "heading": "Quotes about human nature", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature.md", "quotes_count": 509, "authors_count": 257, "parent": null, "children": [ { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character", "heading": "Quotes about character" }, { "name": "mediocrity", "slug": "mediocrity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mediocrity", "heading": "Quotes about mediocrity" }, { "name": "human potential", "slug": "human-potential", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-potential", "heading": "Quotes about human potential" } ], "quotes": [ { "id": "cc4ad66a-fe73-449a-a482-8cc4c2f5aa2c", "slug": "nothing-alone-a-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/the-outsider/nothing-alone-a-man", "text": "\"Nothing.... Alone a man is nothing.....I wish I had some way to give the meaning of my life to others.... To make a bridge from man to man.... We must find some way of being good to ourselves.... Man is all we've got.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Wright", "slug": "richard-wright", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright" }, "book": { "title": "The Outsider", "slug": "the-outsider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/the-outsider" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wright#The_Outsider_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T14:30:05" }, { "id": "89b37098-0d4a-41de-915f-1bdc0cf5a5db", "slug": "i-headed-toward", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/black-boy/i-headed-toward", "text": "I headed toward home alone, really alone now, telling myself that in all the sprawling immensity of our mighty continent the least-known factor of living was the human heart, the least-sought goal of being was a way to live a human life. Perhaps, I thought, out of my tortured feelings I could fling a spark into this darkness. I would try, not because I wanted to but because I felt that I had to if I were to live at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Wright", "slug": "richard-wright", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright" }, "book": { "title": "Black Boy", "slug": "black-boy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-wright/black-boy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "writing", "slug": "writing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wright#Black_Boy_(1945)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T14:30:05" }, { "id": "4a90ffe7-28af-44f9-884d-dfddfe0bafbc", "slug": "if-you-inquire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther/if-you-inquire", "text": "If you inquire what the people are like here, I must answer, «The same as everywhere.»", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe", "slug": "johann-wolfgang-von-goethe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sorrows of Young Werther", "slug": "the-sorrows-of-young-werther", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:52" }, { "id": "0941accd-f025-4faa-b23b-b13b1fe24589", "slug": "that-children-dont", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther/that-children-dont", "text": "That children don't know why they want what they want, all learned teachers and judges are unanimous. But that adults, just like children, tumble about in the world without knowing where they come from and where they're going—that they act in accordance with their avowed aims just as little as children do—that they can be ruled by cookies and cakes and lashes just as easily as children—this no one wants to believe, although it seems to me so palpably true.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe", "slug": "johann-wolfgang-von-goethe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe" }, "book": { "title": "The Sorrows of Young Werther", "slug": "the-sorrows-of-young-werther", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/the-sorrows-of-young-werther" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "children", "slug": "children", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Young_Werther#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:52" }, { "id": "e6550f0d-7fe9-408b-8059-d0ec5bb1e02c", "slug": "we-should-judge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables/we-should-judge", "text": "We should judge a man much more surely from what he dreams than from what he thinks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Victor Hugo", "slug": "victor-hugo", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo" }, "book": { "title": "Les Misérables", "slug": "les-miserables", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/victor-hugo/les-miserables" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 585, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "dreams and aspirations", "slug": "dreams-and-aspirations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dreams-and-aspirations" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables#Book_V_-_The_Excellence_of_Misfortune", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T08:09:49" }, { "id": "bcf70eeb-756a-42a1-bc80-1f4ab596b2dd", "slug": "man-is-neither", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-is-neither", "text": "Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who would act the angel acts the brute.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:54" }, { "id": "9f6604d4-3140-4c3e-8079-43b8668a0b81", "slug": "condition-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/condition-of-man", "text": "Condition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_II:_The_Misery_of_Man_without_God_(60-183)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:54" }, { "id": "0c4ccc8b-30fb-4a1a-ac26-824b1222255f", "slug": "man-is-but", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-is-but", "text": "Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this. All our dignity consists, then, in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us endeavour, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:54" }, { "id": "6c2341b6-7f27-4a63-8f73-5c5fdf3b0a48", "slug": "if-we-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/if-we-cannot", "text": "If we cannot live entirely like human beings, at least let us do everything in our power not to live entirely like animals.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "Blindness", "slug": "blindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 116, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "dignity", "slug": "dignity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#Blindness_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:45" }, { "id": "dc0e801e-1cbc-4edc-a4a8-a7e5388fe417", "slug": "the-scoundrel-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos/les-liaisons-dangereuses/the-scoundrel-has", "text": "The scoundrel has his good qualities, and the good man his weaknesses.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pierre Choderlos de Laclos", "slug": "pierre-choderlos-de-laclos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos" }, "book": { "title": "Les Liaisons Dangereuses", "slug": "les-liaisons-dangereuses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos/les-liaisons-dangereuses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Choderlos_de_Laclos#Les_liaisons_dangereuses_(1782)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:43" }, { "id": "73284c0e-290b-4b66-a445-50a50f117e81", "slug": "numberless-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sophocles/antigone/numberless-are-the", "text": "Numberless are the world's wonders, but none\n\nMore wonderful than man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sophocles", "slug": "sophocles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sophocles" }, "book": { "title": "Antigone", "slug": "antigone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sophocles/antigone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 62, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sophocles#Antigone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:39" }, { "id": "f0310bb7-b4a1-4ced-a938-8432961ed5d2", "slug": "a-creature-of-a-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/a-creature-of-a-more", "text": "A creature of a more exalted kind\n\nWas wanting yet, and then was Man designed;\n\nConscious of thought, of more capacious breast,\n\nFor empire formed, and fit to rule the rest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ovid", "slug": "ovid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid" }, "book": { "title": "Metamorphoses", "slug": "metamorphoses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38" }, { "id": "56aa9d07-dc3a-486a-bec6-07471b974871", "slug": "thus-while-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses/thus-while-the", "text": "Thus, while the mute creation downward bend\n\nTheir sight, and to their earthly mother tend,\n\nMan looks aloft, and with erected eyes\n\nBeholds his own hereditary skies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ovid", "slug": "ovid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid" }, "book": { "title": "Metamorphoses", "slug": "metamorphoses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ovid/metamorphoses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid#Metamorphoses_(Transformations)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:38" }, { "id": "38f4ee99-8243-40d2-bf98-8f4cd6e228d7", "slug": "everything-is-good", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/everything-is-good", "text": "Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things, everything degenerates in the hands of man.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:16" }, { "id": "278cbc49-9b31-434f-a57e-427c2d660424", "slug": "the-world-is-a-bell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections/the-world-is-a-bell", "text": "The world is a bell that is cracked: it clatters, but does not ring out clearly.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe", "slug": "johann-wolfgang-von-goethe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe" }, "book": { "title": "Maxims and Reflections", "slug": "maxims-and-reflections", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/maxims-and-reflections" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe#Maxims_and_Reflections_(1833)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:15" }, { "id": "f64b68ea-c780-4763-b551-a5223b8dc195", "slug": "there-will-be-vices", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories/there-will-be-vices", "text": "There will be vices as long as there are men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tacitus", "slug": "tacitus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus" }, "book": { "title": "The Histories", "slug": "the-histories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tacitus/the-histories" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tacitus#Histories_(100-110)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:49:13" }, { "id": "5acc060a-0ed5-4da1-aead-c02f62450d38", "slug": "it-is-yet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays/it-is-yet", "text": "It is yet a higher speech of his than the other, \"It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Francis Bacon", "slug": "francis-bacon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon" }, "book": { "title": "The Essays", "slug": "the-essays", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-essays" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Essays_(Francis_Bacon)#Of_Adversity", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:19" }, { "id": "b97e90e8-dd51-414e-be70-c429eae37cd9", "slug": "man-when-perfected", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/man-when-perfected", "text": "Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aristotle", "slug": "aristotle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle" }, "book": { "title": "The Politics", "slug": "the-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Politics_(Aristotle)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:07" }, { "id": "5b04dd4e-28e1-4bd7-a7f7-05196a01027d", "slug": "man-is-by-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics/man-is-by-nature", "text": "Man is by nature a political animal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aristotle", "slug": "aristotle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle" }, "book": { "title": "The Politics", "slug": "the-politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/the-politics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Politics_(Aristotle)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:07" }, { "id": "b1938736-b401-4c0e-80aa-73b942a4882d", "slug": "it-is-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/confessions/it-is-in-the", "text": "It is in the country that one learns to love and serve humanity; one only learns to despise it in cities.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Confessions", "slug": "confessions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/confessions" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confessions_(Rousseau)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:02:02" }, { "id": "bca1352f-0fd3-4dd4-8e22-952f2b59aa2e", "slug": "there-are-depths", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/the-french-revolution/there-are-depths", "text": "There are depths in man which go down the length of the lowest Hell, as there are heights which reach the highest Heaven; — for are not both Heaven and Hell made out of him, everlasting Miracle and Mystery that he is?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "The French Revolution", "slug": "the-french-revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/the-french-revolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 327, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#The_French_Revolution._A_History_(1837)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:53" }, { "id": "697f762d-fde5-4bdd-945e-bf17806bb5d5", "slug": "o-poor-mortals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/the-french-revolution/o-poor-mortals", "text": "O poor mortals, how ye make this earth bitter for each other.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "The French Revolution", "slug": "the-french-revolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/the-french-revolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#The_French_Revolution._A_History_(1837)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-26T07:01:53" }, { "id": "72a45202-b872-435c-8d2a-d161efa0e106", "slug": "the-totality-of-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-sweterlitsch/the-gone-world/the-totality-of-human", "text": "The totality of human endeavor is nothing when set against the stars.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Sweterlitsch", "slug": "tom-sweterlitsch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-sweterlitsch" }, "book": { "title": "The Gone World", "slug": "the-gone-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-sweterlitsch/the-gone-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 147, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Sweterlitsch#The_Gone_World_(2018)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:20" }, { "id": "d89b97bd-6a1b-4d9d-b3bc-5813cb27d052", "slug": "what-is-most", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurens-van-der-post/a-walk-with-a-white-bushman/what-is-most", "text": "What is most threatening and destructive in human society today is the human being who is split in his own nucleus: it is the fission in the modern soul which makes nuclear fission so dangerous — he is a split atom. He has got to heal himself, make himself whole.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Laurens Van Der Post", "slug": "laurens-van-der-post", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurens-van-der-post" }, "book": { "title": "A Walk with a White Bushman", "slug": "a-walk-with-a-white-bushman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/laurens-van-der-post/a-walk-with-a-white-bushman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 50, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laurens_van_der_Post#A_Walk_with_a_White_Bushman_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:19" }, { "id": "46c18c79-2ef1-42a5-b3ed-2a83173fe0ca", "slug": "funny-how-we-take", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bloch/psycho/funny-how-we-take", "text": "Funny...how we take it for granted that we know all there is to know about another person, just because we see them frequently or because of some strong emotional tie.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Bloch", "slug": "robert-bloch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bloch" }, "book": { "title": "Psycho", "slug": "psycho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-bloch/psycho" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "judging others", "slug": "judging-others", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Bloch#Psycho_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:09" }, { "id": "438daafe-20e3-4b12-9753-328dfe6f976e", "slug": "a-human-brain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eliezer-yudkowsky/if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies/a-human-brain", "text": "A human brain can learn to navigate wider-ranging paths through a larger cross-section of reality than any other animal. That is our special power.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eliezer Yudkowsky", "slug": "eliezer-yudkowsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eliezer-yudkowsky" }, "book": { "title": "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies", "slug": "if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eliezer-yudkowsky/if-anyone-builds-it-everyone-dies" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 19, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/If_Anyone_Builds_It,_Everyone_Dies#Chapter_1:_Humanity%E2%80%99s_Special_Power", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:06:08" }, { "id": "76bef5e2-87a5-4ff5-8911-4fa8e871780d", "slug": "how-oft-amid", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-wordsworth/the-prelude/how-oft-amid", "text": "How oft, amid those overflowing streets,\n\nHave I gone forward with the crowd, and said\n\nUnto myself, \"The face of every one\n\nThat passes by me is a mystery!\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Wordsworth", "slug": "william-wordsworth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-wordsworth" }, "book": { "title": "The Prelude", "slug": "the-prelude", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-wordsworth/the-prelude" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Prelude#Book_VII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:54" }, { "id": "c93fb54d-550b-4e3e-94cb-3e40e50caa7e", "slug": "nothing-humans-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls/nothing-humans-can", "text": "Nothing humans can touch goes unmodified.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan Falls", "slug": "leviathan-falls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 510, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Leviathan_Falls_(2021)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:39" }, { "id": "a532d8e4-eb58-4734-9cbb-3f5b2d4c081c", "slug": "we-never-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/we-never-had", "text": "“We never had a chance,” he said. “Look at all this. We never stood a chance against this.”\n\n“We did not,” Else agreed. “Too bad we didn’t know.”\n\n“Knowing wouldn’t have mattered.”…\n\n“We’d have fought anyway,” he said, thinking of Ostencour and his improvised knife. Synnia wrestling down the guard. “It’s what we do.”\n\n“I don’t know if that idea is stupid or noble,” Else said.\n\n“Human,” Dafyd said. “It’s just human. We don’t stop just because there’s no hope.”\n\nElse nodded, stopped with her brow furrowed. A tear dropped from her eye unnoticed, and she shrugged. “There's always hope for something. Just not always…not always what we want.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "The Mercy of Gods", "slug": "the-mercy-of-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 136, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#The_Mercy_of_Gods_(2024)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:39" }, { "id": "5b8bc131-84ff-4701-966a-78bd1459edd7", "slug": "humans-are-structureless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods/humans-are-structureless", "text": "Humans are structureless. They live in conflict with themselves and each other. Their great genius is rationalization: lying into mirrors until they bully and seduce themselves into things they would never otherwise do. They are creatures of self-delusion, regret, and desire.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "The Mercy of Gods", "slug": "the-mercy-of-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/the-mercy-of-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 373, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#The_Mercy_of_Gods_(2024)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:39" }, { "id": "7ea0aea9-4fda-4d04-9c5b-f8dfad6cbd4a", "slug": "it-would-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls/it-would-have", "text": "“It would have worked,” she said. “If we’d cooperated, it would have worked.”\n\n“It would have been better.”\n\n“I think about all the things we could have done, all the miracles we could have achieved, if we were all just a little bit better than it turns out we are.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan Falls", "slug": "leviathan-falls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 374, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cooperation", "slug": "cooperation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cooperation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Leviathan_Falls_(2021)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:38" }, { "id": "4145cbac-70a1-4d4c-8fa8-79fc4d5bd66b", "slug": "theyre-people-naomi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls/theyre-people-naomi", "text": "“They’re people,” Naomi said, exhaustion in her tone. “We’re trying to do all of this with humans. Shortsightedness is coded in our DNA.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan Falls", "slug": "leviathan-falls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/leviathan-falls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 253, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Leviathan_Falls_(2021)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:38" }, { "id": "de07173a-4bef-43a6-9357-a98c53f1051d", "slug": "amazing-how-much", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games/amazing-how-much", "text": "Amazing how much we’ve managed to do, considering how we’re doing it all with jumped-up social primates and evolutionary behaviors from the Pleistocene.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Nemesis Games", "slug": "nemesis-games", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 325, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Nemesis_Games_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:36" }, { "id": "62642c57-e139-4336-9d87-cc91b5669340", "slug": "the-aliens-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games/the-aliens-that", "text": "The aliens that sent the protomolecule hadn’t needed to destroy humanity. They’d given humans the opportunity to destroy themselves, and as a species, they’d leaped on it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Nemesis Games", "slug": "nemesis-games", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 291, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Nemesis_Games_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:36" }, { "id": "2580603d-5032-481b-9bee-3b39041b167b", "slug": "humanity-was-so-flawed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games/humanity-was-so-flawed", "text": "Humanity was so flawed. Not just her, but everyone. Half the population was below average intelligence. Half below average dedication. Average adherence to duty. The cruel law of statistics. It was astounding that as a race they’d managed as much as they had.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James S. A. Corey", "slug": "james-s-a-corey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey" }, "book": { "title": "Nemesis Games", "slug": "nemesis-games", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-s-a-corey/nemesis-games" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 525, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey#Nemesis_Games_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:36" }, { "id": "ea442d5f-5239-417e-97d7-68f2a1d64bbd", "slug": "crushed-them-into", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/white-fang/crushed-them-into", "text": "Crushed them into the remotest recesses of their own minds, pressing out of them, like juices from the grape, all the false ardours and exaltations and undue self-values of the human soul, until they perceived themselves finite and small, specks and motes, moving with weak cunning and little wisdom amidst the play and inter-play of the great blind elements and forces.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack London", "slug": "jack-london", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london" }, "book": { "title": "White Fang", "slug": "white-fang", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-london/white-fang" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 5, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/White_Fang#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:29" }, { "id": "31ad9aac-ebd6-4dc8-a1f1-5bce344ba5e1", "slug": "a-snake-might", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-aboulela/bird-summons/a-snake-might", "text": "A snake might not remember the year before, the month before. That desire to know, to check, to measure against, was human. (p233)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Leila Aboulela", "slug": "leila-aboulela", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-aboulela" }, "book": { "title": "Bird Summons", "slug": "bird-summons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/leila-aboulela/bird-summons" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "memory", "slug": "memory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leila_Aboulela#Bird_Summons_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:08" }, { "id": "d72e4e5f-2e0c-4be6-b771-98da832755c7", "slug": "they-all-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-novik/uprooted/they-all-had", "text": "They all had stories. They had mothers or fathers, sisters or lovers. They weren't alone in the world, mattering to no one but themselves. It seemed utterly wrong to treat them like pennies in a purse. I felt the soldiers understood perfectly well that we were making sums out of them-- this many safe to spend, this number too high, as if each one wasn't a whole man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Naomi Novik", "slug": "naomi-novik", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-novik" }, "book": { "title": "Uprooted", "slug": "uprooted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/naomi-novik/uprooted" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "soldiers", "slug": "soldiers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soldiers" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Naomi_Novik#Uprooted_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:05:05" }, { "id": "a7e5f3ee-cefe-4f96-9277-2a8d8af1dd6a", "slug": "you-are-no-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-ford/crackpot-palace/you-are-no-more", "text": "You are no more nor less than any man—a hungry heart and a wavering will.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jeffrey Ford", "slug": "jeffrey-ford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-ford" }, "book": { "title": "Crackpot Palace", "slug": "crackpot-palace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeffrey-ford/crackpot-palace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 307, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Ford#Crackpot_Palace_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:58" }, { "id": "de83be32-5d1c-40b9-918d-70f8923e010d", "slug": "coming-whence-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant/coming-whence-you", "text": "Coming whence you do, you doubtless assume that the mores and customs of your own land arise from the workings of simple human nature. But human nature is far from simple, and what appears natural in your own milieu may seem chillingly alien when transported into some foreign sphere.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Matt Hughes", "slug": "matt-hughes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes" }, "book": { "title": "Fools Errant", "slug": "fools-errant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/matt-hughes/fools-errant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 30, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Matthew_Hughes_(writer)#Fools_Errant_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:52" }, { "id": "9c953be0-6c67-4585-9d8d-c06c7503deb2", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edna-ferber/a-peculiar-treasure/i-am-not", "text": "I am not so naïve as to be oblivious of evil and ugliness, but I thought that the bulk of the human race wanted, deep down, to be good if only they could, somehow. A childish belief, perhaps. But I shrink from relinquishing it. I am not astonished at brutality, nor at the weak yielding to it. I know that man belongs to the animal kingdom. But I know, too, that he is superior to other animals through the possession of that intangible something called the spirit. Just as I believe that God is Good and that Good is God, so I believe that Good (and therefore God) lives within each of us. Each one of us is not only an animal, but a spirit. And for that reason alone (though there are a thousand others) I marvel that every decent human being does not reject the spiritual murder which accompanies the scourge of Fascism, Nazism and Communism. Of the three, the Nazi plan will perish first, not because of the Nazi brutality, but because of the Nazi vulgarity and insolence. As in 1914 (and always) the German nation now reckons mathematically without considering the human equation. A mistake.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edna Ferber", "slug": "edna-ferber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edna-ferber" }, "book": { "title": "A Peculiar Treasure", "slug": "a-peculiar-treasure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edna-ferber/a-peculiar-treasure" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edna_Ferber#A_Peculiar_Treasure_(1939)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:52" }, { "id": "9ee8abef-8510-4883-8ccf-ba320a602038", "slug": "i-learned-some", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn/a-mirror-for-observers/i-learned-some", "text": "I learned some years back that human nature is volatile stuff in a world full of lighted matches.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Pangborn", "slug": "edgar-pangborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn" }, "book": { "title": "A Mirror for Observers", "slug": "a-mirror-for-observers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn/a-mirror-for-observers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 178, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Pangborn#A_Mirror_for_Observers_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:40" }, { "id": "721404ac-ac7a-42b0-aff8-34fa24dcae45", "slug": "human-beings-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn/a-mirror-for-observers/human-beings-have", "text": "Human beings have never been very adult about cleaning up after themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Pangborn", "slug": "edgar-pangborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn" }, "book": { "title": "A Mirror for Observers", "slug": "a-mirror-for-observers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-pangborn/a-mirror-for-observers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Pangborn#A_Mirror_for_Observers_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:39" }, { "id": "482255a2-52bc-4dc8-86d2-c746f2fa03fe", "slug": "there-had-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-r-stewart/earth-abides/there-had-been", "text": "There had been many definitions of Man; he would make another: “The noise-producing animal.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George R. Stewart", "slug": "george-r-stewart", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-r-stewart" }, "book": { "title": "Earth Abides", "slug": "earth-abides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-r-stewart/earth-abides" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 53, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_R._Stewart#Earth_Abides_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:34" }, { "id": "723c5976-6fb1-4669-be59-d1690fa7c484", "slug": "in-the-western", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass/in-the-western", "text": "In the Western tradition there is a recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top—the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of Creation—and the plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as \"the younger brothers of Creation.\" We say that humans have the least experience with how to live and thus the most to learn—we must look to our teachers among the other species for guidance. Their wisdom is apparent in the way that they live. They teach us by example. They've been on the earth far longer than we have been, and have had time to figure things out.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robin Wall Kimmerer", "slug": "robin-wall-kimmerer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer" }, "book": { "title": "Braiding Sweetgrass", "slug": "braiding-sweetgrass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robin-wall-kimmerer/braiding-sweetgrass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Wall_Kimmerer#Braiding_Sweetgrass_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:30" }, { "id": "37c585c3-ad4b-4fd7-82e4-19c41e1bddd5", "slug": "ive-heard-it-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-h-wilson/amped/ive-heard-it-said", "text": "I’ve heard it said that technology makes a good person better, and it makes a bad person worse. That’s okay with me. I say we keep building new versions of ourselves, keep exploring the unknown, and keep growing.\n\nWe’re gonna be fine. Different, but fine.\n\nBecause most people are good. Right?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel H. Wilson", "slug": "daniel-h-wilson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-h-wilson" }, "book": { "title": "Amped", "slug": "amped", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-h-wilson/amped" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 274, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_H._Wilson#Amped_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:29" }, { "id": "cf439d93-dadf-4841-ae08-f2b37a96962b", "slug": "there-is-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon/there-is-nothing", "text": "There is nothing more defenseless than a defenseless human.\n\nNo teeth, no talons, no thunderbolts, no fire.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cressida Cowell", "slug": "cressida-cowell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell" }, "book": { "title": "How to Train Your Dragon", "slug": "how-to-train-your-dragon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_(novel_series)#How_to_Fight_a_Dragon's_Fury_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:28" }, { "id": "265fcbca-ca55-4364-bed8-c39e66fcb1fe", "slug": "there-are-some", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon/there-are-some", "text": "\"There are some dragons that are monsters,\" admitted Valhallarama.\n\n\"But then there are also some humans who are monsters.\" (And at this point she paused and looked significantly at Alvin the Treacherous and the witch.)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cressida Cowell", "slug": "cressida-cowell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell" }, "book": { "title": "How to Train Your Dragon", "slug": "how-to-train-your-dragon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cressida-cowell/how-to-train-your-dragon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/How_to_Train_Your_Dragon_(novel_series)#How_to_Seize_a_Dragon's_Jewel_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:28" }, { "id": "580ccb49-8db9-4582-abc4-4ab90bf24196", "slug": "ive-looked-deeply", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/ive-looked-deeply", "text": "“I’ve looked deeply into the hearts of my fellow men, [...] and to be honest with you, I’d rather look into a cesspool.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Eddings", "slug": "david-eddings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings" }, "book": { "title": "The Redemption of Althalus", "slug": "the-redemption-of-althalus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pessimism", "slug": "pessimism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pessimism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_VI_cap_37", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:23" }, { "id": "2425a35c-46a5-4bc0-8163-4873b4a5b161", "slug": "whats-it-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus/whats-it-like", "text": "“What’s it like?” Andine asked curiously. “Hearing the thoughts of others, I mean?”\n\n“Disturbing,” Leitha replied. “What people say and what they’re thinking don’t always exactly match. We’re much closer to being animals than most of us would care to admit.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Eddings", "slug": "david-eddings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings" }, "book": { "title": "The Redemption of Althalus", "slug": "the-redemption-of-althalus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-eddings/the-redemption-of-althalus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Eddings#Part_II_cap_14", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:23" }, { "id": "79cf00a1-f3ec-4625-a7c8-26ec1f2ad76d", "slug": "over-and-over", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate/over-and-over", "text": "\"Over and over our plans foundered on human nature. On the mediocrity of human nature that betrays its better self, its best ideals, that is unworthy of itself everywhere.\n\n\"Shocking, the mediocrity of everything - is it not?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert S. Stone", "slug": "robert-s-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone" }, "book": { "title": "Damascus Gate", "slug": "damascus-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/damascus-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 232, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "idealism", "slug": "idealism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/idealism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Stone_(novelist)#Damascus_Gate_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:19" }, { "id": "8b356fbe-9af7-47d5-afd5-51a3d5e2cef5", "slug": "were-at-a-very", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/a-flag-for-sunrise/were-at-a-very", "text": "\"We're at a very primitive stage of mankind,\" Nolan declared, \"that's what people don't understand. Just pick up the Times on any given day and you've got a catalogue of ape behaviour. Strip away the slogans and excuses and verbiage, the so-called ideology, and you're reading about what one pack of chimpanzees did to another.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert S. Stone", "slug": "robert-s-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone" }, "book": { "title": "A Flag for Sunrise", "slug": "a-flag-for-sunrise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-s-stone/a-flag-for-sunrise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 26, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ideology", "slug": "ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Stone_(novelist)#A_Flag_for_Sunrise_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:18" }, { "id": "d92b14f1-8633-4bd8-8520-401c8f700b0b", "slug": "he-had-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/moving-pictures/he-had-not", "text": "He had not got where he was today by bothering how things worked. It was how people worked that intrigued him. (p. 282)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Moving Pictures", "slug": "moving-pictures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/moving-pictures" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moving_Pictures_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:15" }, { "id": "7c4ab46f-bdf1-4a5e-9a65-19d4d696d82b", "slug": "it-is-no-longer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/merlin-sheldrake/entangled-life/it-is-no-longer", "text": "It is no longer possible to conceive of any organism—humans included—as distinct from the microbial communities they share a body with.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Merlin Sheldrake", "slug": "merlin-sheldrake", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/merlin-sheldrake" }, "book": { "title": "Entangled Life", "slug": "entangled-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/merlin-sheldrake/entangled-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 91, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Merlin_Sheldrake#Entangled_Life:_How_Fungi_Make_Our_Worlds,_Change_Our_Minds_%26_Shape_Our_Futures_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:15" }, { "id": "f6580b70-83c5-444a-ae0c-424b08cfcc83", "slug": "those-first-pyramids", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids/those-first-pyramids", "text": "Those first pyramids had been built by human beings, little bags of thinking water held up briefly by fragile accumulations of calcium, who had cut rocks into pieces and then painfully put them back together again in a better shape. (p. 96)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Pyramids", "slug": "pyramids", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/pyramids" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pyramids_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" }, { "id": "bb42946c-6260-4787-a3b0-bc7e7d5c6719", "slug": "people-always-say", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole/people-always-say", "text": "People always say, \"It's good to be a part of a something bigger than yourself,\" but you already are. You're part of a huge thing. The whole of humanity. That's enormous. But you can't see it, so you pick, what? An organization? A culture? A religion? That's not bigger than you. It's much, much smaller!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Toltz", "slug": "steve-toltz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz" }, "book": { "title": "A Fraction Of The Whole", "slug": "a-fraction-of-the-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-toltz/a-fraction-of-the-whole" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "belonging", "slug": "belonging", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/belonging" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Toltz#Seven", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:12" }, { "id": "c63059e4-2a3e-4473-9f1b-6a3b9b526eef", "slug": "i-came-to-realize", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger/the-glass-bees/i-came-to-realize", "text": "I came to realize that one single human being, comprehended in his depth, who gives generously from the treasures of his heart, bestows on us more riches than Caesar or Alexander could ever conquer. Here is our kingdom, the best of monarchies, the best republic. Here is our garden, our happiness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ernst Jünger", "slug": "ernst-junger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger" }, "book": { "title": "The Glass Bees", "slug": "the-glass-bees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ernst-junger/the-glass-bees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "happiness", "slug": "happiness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/happiness" }, { "name": "generosity", "slug": "generosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/generosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernst_J%C3%BCnger#The_Glass_Bees_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:08" }, { "id": "c03c6d0d-ff72-4941-93bf-d6ea898c249e", "slug": "one-human-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road/one-human-life", "text": "One human life is deeper than the ocean. Strange fishes and sea-monsters and mighty plants live in the rock-bed of our spirits. The whole of human history is an undiscovered continent deep in our souls. There are dolphins, plants that dream, magic birds inside us. The sky is inside us. The earth is in us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Okri", "slug": "ben-okri", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri" }, "book": { "title": "The Famished Road", "slug": "the-famished-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Okri#The_Famished_Road_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:02" }, { "id": "9da644f1-005e-4757-aea1-d78c60e631a6", "slug": "many-people-reside", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road/many-people-reside", "text": "Many people reside in us. Many past lives, many future lives. If you listen carefully the air is full of laughter. Human beings are a great mystery.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Okri", "slug": "ben-okri", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri" }, "book": { "title": "The Famished Road", "slug": "the-famished-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Okri#The_Famished_Road_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:02" }, { "id": "5643c384-ae0a-4863-9c09-f0d02d182417", "slug": "we-disliked-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road/we-disliked-the", "text": "We disliked the rigours of existence, the unfulfilled longings, the enshrined injustices of the world, the labyrinths of love, the ignorance of parents, the fact of dying, and the amazing indifference of the Living in the midst of the simple beauties of the universe. We feared the heartlessness of human beings, all of whom are born blind, few of whom ever learn to see.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Okri", "slug": "ben-okri", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri" }, "book": { "title": "The Famished Road", "slug": "the-famished-road", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-okri/the-famished-road" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "indifference", "slug": "indifference", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/indifference" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Okri#The_Famished_Road_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:04:02" }, { "id": "eddd3023-852c-48f5-996b-7a6ca55a5832", "slug": "yay-old-uns", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/yay-old-uns", "text": "Yay, Old Uns’ Smart mastered sicks, miles, seeds an' made miracles ord’nary, but it din’t master one thing, nay, a hunger in the hearts o' humans, yay, a hunger for more.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 272, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "greed", "slug": "greed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/greed" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#Sloosha's_Crossin'_an'_Evrythin'_After", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "d89adc93-98ea-45c0-83f5-3357905a479b", "slug": "the-better-organized", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/the-better-organized", "text": "\"The better organized the state, the duller its humanity.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 61, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#Letters_from_Zedelghem_(Part_1)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "a3bc88cc-1832-4590-9129-9ef2f83709cc", "slug": "listn-savages-an-civlizeds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas/listn-savages-an-civlizeds", "text": "List'n, savages an Civ'lizeds ain't divvied by tribes or b'liefs or mountain ranges, nay, ev'ry human is both, yay. Old Uns'd got the Smart o' gods but the savagery o' jackals, an' that's what tripped the Fall. Some Savages what I knowed got a beautsome Civ'lized heart beatin' in their ribs. Maybe some Kona. Not 'nuff to sayso their hole tribe, but who knows one day? One day.\n\n\"One day\" was only a flea o' hope for us.\n\nYay, I mem'ry Meronym sayin', but fleas ain't easy to rid.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Mitchell", "slug": "david-mitchell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell" }, "book": { "title": "Cloud Atlas", "slug": "cloud-atlas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-mitchell/cloud-atlas" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 303, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" }, { "name": "civilization", "slug": "civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cloud_Atlas_(novel)#Sloosha's_Crossin'_an'_Evrythin'_After", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:56" }, { "id": "44feff8f-a31b-4ce9-9446-d2d6a9726fa6", "slug": "only-one-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-alexander-percy/lanterns-on-the-levee/only-one-thing", "text": "Only one thing never changes – the human heart. Revolutions and ideologies may lacerate it, even break it, but they cannot change its essence. After Fascism and Communism and Capitalism and Socialism are over and forgotten as completely as slavery and the old South, that same headstrong human heart will be clamoring for the old things it wept for in Eden – love and a chance to be noble, laughter and a chance to adore something, someone, somewhere. (Ch. 3)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Alexander Percy", "slug": "william-alexander-percy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-alexander-percy" }, "book": { "title": "Lanterns On The Levee", "slug": "lanterns-on-the-levee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-alexander-percy/lanterns-on-the-levee" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ideology", "slug": "ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Alexander_Percy#Lanterns_on_the_Levee_(1941)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:50" }, { "id": "0ed3d96f-08fa-4559-a39a-a843508b9fdd", "slug": "maybe-old-pete-the-post", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/the-riders/maybe-old-pete-the-post", "text": "Maybe old Pete-the-Post was right - you never really know anybody, not even those you loved. People have shadows, secrets.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "The Riders", "slug": "the-riders", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/the-riders" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 223, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#The_Riders_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:48" }, { "id": "e09be6f2-ead5-493a-b049-f56f1d63573f", "slug": "why-was-it-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet/why-was-it-that", "text": "Why was it that he didn't know a thing about the underlying nature of people, the shadows and shifts, the hungers and hopes that caused them to do the things they did?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tim Winton", "slug": "tim-winton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton" }, "book": { "title": "Cloudstreet", "slug": "cloudstreet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tim-winton/cloudstreet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 267, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Winton#Cloudstreet_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:47" }, { "id": "abbfd471-8ca7-49de-8c72-ba4551b83d9b", "slug": "moon-watcher-had-no-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/2001-a-space-odyssey/moon-watcher-had-no-idea", "text": "Moon-Watcher had no idea of its cause, still less of its cure; but discontent had come into his soul, and he had taken one small step toward humanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Arthur C. Clarke", "slug": "arthur-c-clarke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke" }, "book": { "title": "2001: A Space Odyssey", "slug": "2001-a-space-odyssey", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/2001-a-space-odyssey" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)#I._Primeval_Night", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:44" }, { "id": "5171d80a-2adf-45f4-b93d-1daeff35a46f", "slug": "the-old-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/all-the-pretty-horses/the-old-man", "text": "The old man … said … the notion that men can be understood was probably an illusion.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "All the Pretty Horses", "slug": "all-the-pretty-horses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/all-the-pretty-horses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_Pretty_Horses_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:40" }, { "id": "225c7a49-6e99-422a-a496-2c6df3eeb9c3", "slug": "maybe-there-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-ronson/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed/maybe-there-are", "text": "Maybe there are two types of people in the world: those who favor humans over ideology, and those who favor ideology over humans. I prefer humans to ideology, but right now the ideologues are winning, and they're creating a stage for artificial high dramas, where everyone is either a magnificent hero or a sickening villain.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jon Ronson", "slug": "jon-ronson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-ronson" }, "book": { "title": "So You've Been Publicly Shamed", "slug": "so-youve-been-publicly-shamed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jon-ronson/so-youve-been-publicly-shamed" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 309, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "fanaticism", "slug": "fanaticism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fanaticism" }, { "name": "ideology", "slug": "ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jon_Ronson#So_You've_Been_Publicly_Shamed_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:38" }, { "id": "796597e5-02b2-4dfc-8d5b-7e8119648c86", "slug": "this-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/foxglove-summer/this-was-the", "text": "This was the Wyldewood, spelt with a Y, that once covered the Island of Britain and would again, once the pesky tool-using primates had done the decent thing and exterminated themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ben Aaronovitch", "slug": "ben-aaronovitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch" }, "book": { "title": "Foxglove Summer", "slug": "foxglove-summer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ben-aaronovitch/foxglove-summer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 316, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Aaronovitch#Foxglove_Summer_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:30" }, { "id": "1d6ab244-7d3c-41ef-b401-410f14a523f1", "slug": "do-the-facts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-shubin/your-inner-fish/do-the-facts", "text": "Do the facts of our ancient history mean that humans are not special or unique among living creatures? Of course not. In fact, knowing something about the deep origins of humanity only adds to the remarkable fact of our existence: all of our extraordinary capabilities arose from basic components that evolved in ancient fish and other creatures. From common parts came a very unique construction. We are not separate from the rest of the living world; we are part of it down to our bones and, as we will see shortly, even our genes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Shubin", "slug": "neil-shubin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-shubin" }, "book": { "title": "Your Inner Fish", "slug": "your-inner-fish", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-shubin/your-inner-fish" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 43, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Shubin#Your_Inner_Fish:_A_Journey_Into_the_3.5-Billion-Year_History_of_the_Human_Body_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:03:03" }, { "id": "45eaf31d-2682-4dbf-aa77-1ea1e1bed177", "slug": "he-had-looked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hanya-yanagihara/a-little-life/he-had-looked", "text": "He had looked at [him], then, and had felt that same sensation he sometimes did when he thought, really thought of [him] and what his life had been: a sadness, he might have called it, but it wasn't a pitying sadness; it was a larger sadness, one that seemed to encompass all the poor striving people, the billions he didn't know, all living their lives, a sadness that mingled with a wonder and awe at how hard humans everywhere tried to live, even when their days were so very difficult, even when their circumstances were so wretched. Life is so sad, he would think in those moments. It's so sad, and yet we all do it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hanya Yanagihara", "slug": "hanya-yanagihara", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hanya-yanagihara" }, "book": { "title": "A Little Life", "slug": "a-little-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hanya-yanagihara/a-little-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "sadness", "slug": "sadness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sadness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hanya_Yanagihara#A_Little_Life_(2015_novel)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:58" }, { "id": "c45b65ae-c76c-4fa9-ad2a-9aeac8f25f0a", "slug": "are-we-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming/are-we-all", "text": "Are we all with acute loneliness,\n\nchronic patients trying to recover\n\nthe will to love?\n\n...Sometimes the love\n\nof another wounded one acts like a salve\n\nwhich soothes the dying self but cannot heal\n\nour lives. And perhaps this is what it feels\n\nlike to be human, and we are all well?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Julia Alvarez", "slug": "julia-alvarez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez" }, "book": { "title": "Homecoming", "slug": "homecoming", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/julia-alvarez/homecoming" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Alvarez#33", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:49" }, { "id": "85b2868d-0798-4efc-a32c-505a84ce5a93", "slug": "were-all-under", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/the-woman-warrior/were-all-under", "text": "\"We're all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we're alive together during the same moment.\" (Brave Orchid, p154, \"At the Western Palace\")", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maxine Hong Kingston", "slug": "maxine-hong-kingston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston" }, "book": { "title": "The Woman Warrior", "slug": "the-woman-warrior", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/the-woman-warrior" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maxine_Hong_Kingston#The_Woman_Warrior:_Memoirs_of_a_Girlhood_Among_Ghosts_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:47" }, { "id": "e2289f1f-050d-4767-86f2-cb5384d3e1ef", "slug": "humans-are-basically", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/the-fifth-book-of-peace/humans-are-basically", "text": "Humans are basically good. That's why it takes so much training to march march march kill kill kill kill. (\"Earth\" p269)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Maxine Hong Kingston", "slug": "maxine-hong-kingston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston" }, "book": { "title": "The Fifth Book of Peace", "slug": "the-fifth-book-of-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/maxine-hong-kingston/the-fifth-book-of-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maxine_Hong_Kingston#The_Fifth_Book_of_Peace_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:46" }, { "id": "f4c83481-3e7f-44e8-bf21-9a0411dc73f3", "slug": "i-think-youll", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/young-hearts-crying/i-think-youll", "text": "\"I think you'll find ordinary people are nicer than you give them credit for being\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard Yates", "slug": "richard-yates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates" }, "book": { "title": "Young Hearts Crying", "slug": "young-hearts-crying", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/young-hearts-crying" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 172, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Yates#Young_Hearts_Crying_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:43" }, { "id": "7beb8395-b543-40ab-8faf-c6ff9308a6d7", "slug": "it-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/starfire/it-is-not", "text": "It is not clear to me whether the insouciance of youth will be the doom of humanity or its salvation. I prefer to think the latter, but I have my doubts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Starfire", "slug": "starfire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/starfire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 446, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "youth", "slug": "youth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/youth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Starfire_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:36" }, { "id": "466b2220-7140-4a76-a545-673b45a9d1ae", "slug": "humans-were-inexplicable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/starfire/humans-were-inexplicable", "text": "Humans were inexplicable only if you assumed that they were logical.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Starfire", "slug": "starfire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/starfire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 70, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "logic", "slug": "logic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/logic" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Starfire_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:35" }, { "id": "1dcd9477-cf0e-4074-9e94-7363b73281fd", "slug": "human-culture-is-built", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/divergence/human-culture-is-built", "text": "Human culture is built around four basic elements: sexual relationships, territorial rights, individual intellectual dominance, and desire for group acceptance. The H’Sirin model using just these four traits as independent variables enables accurate prediction of human behavior patterns. On the basis of this, human culture is judged to be of Level Two, with few prospects for advancement to a higher level. —From the Universal Species Catalog (Subclass: Sapients)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Divergence", "slug": "divergence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/divergence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 282, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Divergence_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:33" }, { "id": "18f6014e-a7c2-4f61-ae2a-012fb6b16bc8", "slug": "when-in-doubt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld/when-in-doubt", "text": "When in doubt, follow the money trail. People could lie, motives could be disguised, even acts could be misunderstood. Money was as constant as human nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Sheffield", "slug": "charles-sheffield", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield" }, "book": { "title": "Proteus in the Underworld", "slug": "proteus-in-the-underworld", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-sheffield/proteus-in-the-underworld" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 148, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sheffield#Proteus_In_The_Underworld_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:32" }, { "id": "169fb4d1-14be-455c-8e4b-551fc8443f3e", "slug": "when-i-get", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brennan-manning/the-ragamuffin-gospel/when-i-get", "text": "When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brennan Manning", "slug": "brennan-manning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brennan-manning" }, "book": { "title": "The Ragamuffin Gospel", "slug": "the-ragamuffin-gospel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brennan-manning/the-ragamuffin-gospel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brennan_Manning#The_Ragamuffin_Gospel_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:30" }, { "id": "e7e7aa8b-a00c-4a1b-be27-3942d2d25afe", "slug": "one-who-searches", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-perry/the-ramal-extraction/one-who-searches", "text": "“One who searches for the definition ‘devious’ can find it listed under ‘human.’”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steve Perry", "slug": "steve-perry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-perry" }, "book": { "title": "The Ramal Extraction", "slug": "the-ramal-extraction", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steve-perry/the-ramal-extraction" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "manipulation", "slug": "manipulation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/manipulation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Perry_(author)#The_Ramal_Extraction_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:28" }, { "id": "807ece5d-36aa-4ddd-8f26-3346de0f4abe", "slug": "but-most-of-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-tevis/mockingbird/but-most-of-all", "text": "But most of all, it seems to me now, has been the courage to know and to sense my feelings that has come, slowly, from the emotionally charged silent films at the old library at first and then later from the poems and novels and histories and biographies and how-to-do-it books that I have read. All of those books—even the dull and nearly incomprehensible ones—have made me understand more clearly what it means to be a human being. And I have learned from the sense of awe I at times develop when I feel in touch with the mind of another, long-dead person and know that I am not alone on this earth. There have been others who have felt as I feel and who have, at times, been able to say the unsayable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Walter Tevis", "slug": "walter-tevis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-tevis" }, "book": { "title": "Mockingbird", "slug": "mockingbird", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/walter-tevis/mockingbird" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 256, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Tevis#Mockingbird_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:26" }, { "id": "c6c96e6c-16c5-4d6f-af43-7f8dba728fed", "slug": "all-thoughtful-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy/looking-backward/all-thoughtful-men", "text": "All thoughtful men agree that the present aspect of society is portentous of great changes. The only question is, whether they will be for the better or the worse. Those who believe in man's essential nobleness lean to the former view, those who believe in his essential baseness to the latter. For my part, I hold to the former opinion. Looking Backward was written in the belief that the Golden Age lies before us and not behind us, and is not far away. Our children will surely see it, and we, too, who are already men and women, if we deserve it by our faith and by our works.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edward Bellamy", "slug": "edward-bellamy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy" }, "book": { "title": "Looking Backward", "slug": "looking-backward", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edward-bellamy/looking-backward" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Looking_Backward:_2000%E2%80%931887#Post_Script", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:25" }, { "id": "e4556a57-ec58-4d71-9d59-5a97453d5586", "slug": "the-human-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/dinosaur-beach/the-human-mind", "text": "The human mind is a pattern, nothing more. The first dim flicker of awareness in the evolving forebrain of Australopithecus carried that pattern in embryo; and down through all the ages, as the human neural engine increased in power and complexity, gained control of its environment in geometrically expanding increments, the pattern never varied.\n\nMan clings to his self-orientation as the psychological center of the Universe. He can face any challenge within that framework, suffer any loss, endure any hardship—so long as the structure remains intact.\n\nWithout it he’s a mind adrift in a trackless infinity—lacking any scale against which to measure his aspirations, his losses, his victories.\n\nEven when the light of his intellect shows him that the structure is itself a product of his brain; that infinity knows no scale, and eternity no duration—still he clings to his self-non-self concept, as a philosopher clings to a life he knows must end, to ideals he knows are ephemeral, to causes he knows will be forgotten.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Keith Laumer", "slug": "keith-laumer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer" }, "book": { "title": "Dinosaur Beach", "slug": "dinosaur-beach", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/keith-laumer/dinosaur-beach" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 192, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Keith_Laumer#Dinosaur_Beach_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:02:09" }, { "id": "8846485e-5ef4-46a7-a40b-7e50663981f3", "slug": "the-human-capacity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook/cold-copper-tears/the-human-capacity", "text": "The human capacity for mischief is boundless.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Glen Cook", "slug": "glen-cook", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook" }, "book": { "title": "Cold Copper Tears", "slug": "cold-copper-tears", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/glen-cook/cold-copper-tears" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 104, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glen_Cook#Cold_Copper_Tears_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:44" }, { "id": "16ceaab1-016a-4421-8e94-96b4ffe362d3", "slug": "humanity-is-best", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy/south-of-broad/humanity-is-best", "text": "Humanity is best described as inhumanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pat Conroy", "slug": "pat-conroy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy" }, "book": { "title": "South of Broad", "slug": "south-of-broad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pat-conroy/south-of-broad" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 486, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pat_Conroy#South_of_Broad_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:34" }, { "id": "f7bbcba4-0ed5-427e-ad4a-2a90c49e11cf", "slug": "i-sometimes-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mo-yan/red-sorghum/i-sometimes-think", "text": "I sometimes think that there is a link between the decline in humanity and the increase in prosperity and comfort. Property and comfort are what people seek, but the costs to character are often terrifying.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mo Yan", "slug": "mo-yan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mo-yan" }, "book": { "title": "Red Sorghum", "slug": "red-sorghum", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mo-yan/red-sorghum" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mo_Yan#Red_Sorghum:_A_Novel_of_China_(1986/1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:27" }, { "id": "9d977f3b-2004-4daf-9c22-2e0f01de4a37", "slug": "i-sat-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl/i-sat-there", "text": "I sat there agape, looking at the flowers, and thought to myself, There are really good things about human beings. I mean, it's humans who discovered the beauty of flowers, and humans who admire them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Osamu Dazai", "slug": "osamu-dazai", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai" }, "book": { "title": "Schoolgirl", "slug": "schoolgirl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/osamu-dazai/schoolgirl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" }, { "name": "flowers", "slug": "flowers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/flowers" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Osamu_Dazai#Schoolgirl", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:25" }, { "id": "65d30b0d-377f-47ac-aa61-41ae44aaf119", "slug": "dont-blame-me-he-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war/dont-blame-me-he-said", "text": "\"Don't blame me,\" he said, surprised at her reaction. \"Blame human nature. I didn't make the world.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Cormier", "slug": "robert-cormier", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier" }, "book": { "title": "Beyond the Chocolate War", "slug": "beyond-the-chocolate-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-cormier/beyond-the-chocolate-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 145, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Cormier#Beyond_the_Chocolate_War_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:01:24" }, { "id": "5a371bce-2d56-4e11-b342-b6dac00d077b", "slug": "only-humanity-could", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age/only-humanity-could", "text": "Only humanity could grasp the stars and then let them slip through its fingers for the pettiness in its heart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Pierce Brown", "slug": "pierce-brown", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown" }, "book": { "title": "Dark Age", "slug": "dark-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/pierce-brown/dark-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierce_Brown#Dark_Age_(2019)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:59" }, { "id": "45c115eb-f3cb-4a5c-811f-82c93171b979", "slug": "man-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/steppenwolf/man-is-not", "text": "Man is not yet a finished creation but rather a challenge of the spirit, a distant possibility dreaded as much as it is desired.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hermann Hesse", "slug": "hermann-hesse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse" }, "book": { "title": "Steppenwolf", "slug": "steppenwolf", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/steppenwolf" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 62, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steppenwolf#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:54" }, { "id": "941ebf1c-f8b0-4330-af0f-61323a06398c", "slug": "o-nly-the-sea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olive-schreiner/the-story-of-an-african-farm/o-nly-the-sea", "text": "“[O]nly the sea is like a human being . . .always moving, always something deep in itself is stirring it. It never rests; it is always wanting, wanting, wanting. It hurries on; and then it creeps back slowly without having reached, moaning. It is always asking a question and it never gets the answer.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Olive Schreiner", "slug": "olive-schreiner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olive-schreiner" }, "book": { "title": "The Story of an African Farm", "slug": "the-story-of-an-african-farm", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/olive-schreiner/the-story-of-an-african-farm" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" }, { "name": "the sea", "slug": "the-sea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-sea" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Olive_Schreiner#The_Story_of_an_African_Farm_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:50" }, { "id": "f1bc8fbf-222b-4620-a70b-2b41ff9eced0", "slug": "kester-wrote-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch/the-wheel-of-fortune/kester-wrote-about", "text": "Kester wrote about people and since human nature doesn't change his observations hadn't dated.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Howatch", "slug": "susan-howatch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch" }, "book": { "title": "The Wheel Of Fortune", "slug": "the-wheel-of-fortune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch/the-wheel-of-fortune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Howatch#Part_6:_Hal", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:45" }, { "id": "3104c1b3-b842-433c-bfd6-e7bfa993e0d5", "slug": "barbaritys-everywhere-thats", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch/the-wheel-of-fortune/barbaritys-everywhere-thats", "text": "'Barbarity's everywhere, that's the truth of it. Absolutely anyone is capable of absolutely anything.'\n\n'My dear Papa, I had no idea you were such a cynic!'\n\n'That's not cynicism, that's honesty — as you well know, dealing with criminals as you do, seeing the human race continually at its worst.'", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Howatch", "slug": "susan-howatch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch" }, "book": { "title": "The Wheel Of Fortune", "slug": "the-wheel-of-fortune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-howatch/the-wheel-of-fortune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "honesty", "slug": "honesty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Howatch#Part_1:_Robert", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:45" }, { "id": "8ebb6ee9-bfcd-4359-91d5-f71de2d9a7a0", "slug": "it-was-a-fault", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/poseidons-wake/it-was-a-fault", "text": "It was a fault of the human condition—or perhaps a blessing—that there was no situation which did not eventually become the normal state of affairs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "Poseidon's Wake", "slug": "poseidons-wake", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/poseidons-wake" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 147, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Poseidon's_Wake_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:42" }, { "id": "44f713af-c780-4920-8bf2-90a9299f507e", "slug": "in-a-flash", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/blue-remembered-earth/in-a-flash", "text": "In a flash she understood herself for what she was: an exceedingly smart monkey. She was a smart monkey who had travelled across interplanetary space in a thing made by other smart monkeys. And the fact of this was enough to make her laugh out loud, as if she had suddenly, belatedly, grasped the punchline to a very involved joke.\n\nI’m the punchline, Sunday thought. I’m the period, the full stop at the end of an immensely long and convoluted chain of happenstance and contingency stretching from the discovery of fire down in the Olduvai Gorge, through the inventions of language and paper and the wheel, through all the unremembered centuries to…this. This condition. Being brought out of hibernation aboard a spaceship orbiting another planet. Being alive in the twenty-second century. Being a thing with a central nervous system complex enough to understand the concept of being a thing with a central nervous system. Simply being.\n\nConsider all the inanimate matter in the universe, all the dumb atoms, all the mindless molecules, all the oblivious dust grains and pebbles and rocks and iceballs and worlds and stars, all the unthinking galaxies and superclusters, wheeling through the oblivious time-haunted megaparsecs of the cosmic supervoid. In all that immensity, she had somehow contrived to be a human being, a microscopically tiny, cosmically insignificant bundle of information-processing systems, wired to a mind more structurally complex than the Milky Way itself, maybe even more complex than the rest of the whole damned universe.\n\nShe had threaded the needle of creation and stabbed the cosmic bullseye.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "Blue Remembered Earth", "slug": "blue-remembered-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/blue-remembered-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 215, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Blue_Remembered_Earth_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:42" }, { "id": "b0a84821-affe-44f1-bba2-a60172ca68b1", "slug": "dont-you-start", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns/dont-you-start", "text": "Don’t you start. It’s bad enough that one of us feels he could have done more. We’re human, Campion—that’s all it boils down to. Human and not nearly as clever as we thought we were when it counted. End of story. When they put up the gravestone for our species, that’ll be the epitaph.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alastair Reynolds", "slug": "alastair-reynolds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds" }, "book": { "title": "House of Suns", "slug": "house-of-suns", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 509, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#House_of_Suns_(2008)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:41" }, { "id": "9fdfa572-fa72-4e08-befc-5323b5136ed1", "slug": "the-dead-walk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/the-zombie-survival-guide/the-dead-walk", "text": "The dead walk among us. Zombies, ghouls — no matter what their label — these somnambulists are the greatest threat to humanity, other than humanity itself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Max Brooks", "slug": "max-brooks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks" }, "book": { "title": "The Zombie Survival Guide", "slug": "the-zombie-survival-guide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/max-brooks/the-zombie-survival-guide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Brooks#The_Zombie_Survival_Guide_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:33" }, { "id": "6685c969-e53c-4004-aaf4-bba333195bf1", "slug": "in-our-place", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tanith-lee/electric-forest/in-our-place", "text": "In our place, we can hardly go backward, but neither should we ignore the nakedness of humanity before the huge-wheeled vehicle of progress. We have too much to give, and far too much to learn, to throw ourselves away.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tanith Lee", "slug": "tanith-lee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tanith-lee" }, "book": { "title": "Electric Forest", "slug": "electric-forest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tanith-lee/electric-forest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 158, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tanith_Lee#Electric_Forest_(1979)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:25" }, { "id": "93c4c7c7-d74e-4294-a181-2c13451e299c", "slug": "art-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy/art-is-the", "text": "Art is the signature of man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Orthodoxy", "slug": "orthodoxy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/orthodoxy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orthodoxy_(book)#Chapter_IV._'The_Ethics_of_Elfland%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:13" }, { "id": "921db6a6-08a8-4059-92d1-852b6294da89", "slug": "there-are-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/desmond-morris/the-naked-ape/there-are-one", "text": "There are one hundred and ninety-three living species of monkeys and apes. One hundred and ninety-two of them are covered with hair. The exception is a naked ape self-named Homo sapiens. This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time studiously ignoring his fundamental ones.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Desmond Morris", "slug": "desmond-morris", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/desmond-morris" }, "book": { "title": "The Naked Ape", "slug": "the-naked-ape", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/desmond-morris/the-naked-ape" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Desmond_Morris#The_Naked_Ape_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:00" }, { "id": "483de72f-7e3e-4a73-90b6-d12698ff9b4d", "slug": "the-turing-test", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/spark/the-turing-test", "text": "The Turing Test tried to make a distinction between humans and machines. But these days Shadow programs like Edward and Laura can be programmed to say \"I love you\" or imitate other emotions. If a machine wanted to act like a human, then it had to deny the truth. Lying, not love, is the fundamental indication of humanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Twelve Hawks", "slug": "john-twelve-hawks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks" }, "book": { "title": "Spark", "slug": "spark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-twelve-hawks/spark" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Twelve_Hawks#Spark_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T23:00:00" }, { "id": "09f59f1b-b746-421f-babb-9f98c8fdea53", "slug": "as-animals-we-walk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bks-iyengar/light-on-life/as-animals-we-walk", "text": "As animals, we walk the earth. As bearers of divine essence, we are among the stars. As human beings, we are caught in the middle, seeking to reconcile the paradox of how to make our way upon earth while striving for something more permanent and more profound.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "B.K.S. Iyengar", "slug": "bks-iyengar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bks-iyengar" }, "book": { "title": "Light on Life", "slug": "light-on-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bks-iyengar/light-on-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B._K._S._Iyengar#Light_on_Life_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:58" }, { "id": "39dc7a02-2b5e-410c-bf66-1e15f91d1e37", "slug": "man-does-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-does-not", "text": "Man does not know what rank he should occupy. He has obviously gone astray and fallen from his true place, lacking the power to find it again. He looks for it everywhere anxiously and unsuccessfully, in impenetrable darkness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#1._Table,_etc.", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:51" }, { "id": "ee3aa568-379a-4d61-b304-3affb760210f", "slug": "man-must-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/man-must-not", "text": "Man must not think that he is on a level either with the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:50" }, { "id": "7ace2a14-37ef-4b34-b53f-a714d5a9ec2b", "slug": "the-greatness-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/the-greatness-of-man", "text": "The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be miserable. A tree does not know itself to be miserable. It is then being miserable to know oneself to be miserable; but it is also being great to know that one is miserable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "dignity", "slug": "dignity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:50" }, { "id": "287a0f6d-7a90-449f-b745-acba6445e118", "slug": "this-twofold-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/this-twofold-nature", "text": "This twofold nature of man is so evident that some have thought that we had two souls. A single subject seemed to them incapable of such sudden variations from unmeasured presumption to a dreadful dejection of heart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VI:_The_Philosophers_(339-424)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:50" }, { "id": "1b146814-a622-4c84-a5e5-6be89e27d003", "slug": "what-a-chimera", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/what-a-chimera", "text": "What a chimera then is man! What a novelty! What a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, imbecile worm of the earth; depositary of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the pride and refuse of the universe!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_VII:_Morality_and_Doctrine_(425-555)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:50" }, { "id": "c5f09130-a809-49ae-9e46-a2b79dcfc0f6", "slug": "after-all-he-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees/after-all-he-is-only", "text": "...after all he is only a man, that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and of nothing; he is neither angel nor brute, but man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Blaise Pascal", "slug": "blaise-pascal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal" }, "book": { "title": "Pensees", "slug": "pensees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/blaise-pascal/pensees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es#Section_II:_The_Misery_of_Man_without_God_(60-183)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:59:47" }, { "id": "6c72d7d2-d585-42ee-b830-a41d37cd42c0", "slug": "archmaester-rigney-once", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows/archmaester-rigney-once", "text": "Archmaester Rigney once wrote that history is a wheel, for the nature of man is fundamentally unchanging. What has happened before will perforce happen again.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Feast for Crows", "slug": "a-feast-for-crows", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-feast-for-crows" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Feast_for_Crows_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:53" }, { "id": "6d0d4247-fd49-4d4a-ab8d-486ec7250279", "slug": "there-is-a-savage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-storm-of-swords/there-is-a-savage", "text": "There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, that beast stirs.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George RR Martin", "slug": "george-rr-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin" }, "book": { "title": "A Storm of Swords", "slug": "a-storm-of-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-rr-martin/a-storm-of-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire#A_Storm_of_Swords_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:50" }, { "id": "bd97e648-c105-4c33-a330-c5994f2283a9", "slug": "imagine-if-every", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/the-ghost-brigades/imagine-if-every", "text": "Imagine if every species named itself after its greatest flaw. We could name our species arrogance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Scalzi", "slug": "john-scalzi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi" }, "book": { "title": "The Ghost Brigades", "slug": "the-ghost-brigades", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/the-ghost-brigades" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 288, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Scalzi#The_Ghost_Brigades_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:43" }, { "id": "f9f8d5e2-497a-42ad-9cce-0bab044814fa", "slug": "rationality-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/the-ghost-brigades/rationality-is-not", "text": "Rationality is not one of humanity’s strong points.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Scalzi", "slug": "john-scalzi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi" }, "book": { "title": "The Ghost Brigades", "slug": "the-ghost-brigades", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-scalzi/the-ghost-brigades" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 88, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Scalzi#The_Ghost_Brigades_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:42" }, { "id": "23615cf6-1ccb-4d55-ad23-47bf02f1da78", "slug": "only-the-creatures", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/the-grey-king/only-the-creatures", "text": "Only the creatures of the earth take from one another, boy. All creatures, but men more than any. Life they take, and liberty, and all that another man may have—sometimes through greed, sometimes through stupidity, but never by any volition but their own. Beware your own race, Bran Davies—they are the only ones who will ever harm you, in the end.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cooper", "slug": "susan-cooper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper" }, "book": { "title": "The Grey King", "slug": "the-grey-king", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/the-grey-king" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 71, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "greed", "slug": "greed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/greed" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cooper#The_Grey_King_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:42" }, { "id": "76985e82-75ea-4561-aec1-4182a8ba72ec", "slug": "you-have-heard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/over-sea-under-stone/you-have-heard", "text": "“You have heard me talk of Logres. It was the old name for this country, thousands of years ago; in the old days when the struggle between good and evil was more bitter and open than it is now. That struggle goes on all round us all the time, like two armies fighting. And sometimes one of them seems to be winning and sometimes the other, but neither has ever triumphed altogether. Nor ever will,” he added softly to himself, “for there is something of each in every man.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Susan Cooper", "slug": "susan-cooper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper" }, "book": { "title": "Over Sea, Under Stone", "slug": "over-sea-under-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/susan-cooper/over-sea-under-stone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 74, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_Cooper#Over_Sea,_Under_Stone_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:41" }, { "id": "274f9b7b-23a9-447e-b7ab-430392d0fd0e", "slug": "he-shared-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-sheckley/dimension-of-miracles/he-shared-the", "text": "He shared the common human hallmark: he was simultaneously predictable and unfathomable—a routine miracle.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Sheckley", "slug": "robert-sheckley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-sheckley" }, "book": { "title": "Dimension of Miracles", "slug": "dimension-of-miracles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-sheckley/dimension-of-miracles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 14, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Sheckley#Dimension_of_Miracles_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:33" }, { "id": "e2b3ed5b-fdd8-4b97-abcd-5d6d098fa6f9", "slug": "in-fact-theres", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-morrow/bible-stories-for-adults/in-fact-theres", "text": "“In fact, there’s probably only one thing worse than not being able to understand a person.”\n\n“What’s that?” asked Nimrod.\n\n“Being able to understand him completely.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Morrow", "slug": "james-morrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-morrow" }, "book": { "title": "Bible Stories for Adults", "slug": "bible-stories-for-adults", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-morrow/bible-stories-for-adults" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 76, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_K._Morrow#Bible_Stories_for_Adults_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:26" }, { "id": "5553c3ab-b692-4666-b5cb-edcc23b22f64", "slug": "when-we-study", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell/principles-of-geology/when-we-study", "text": "When we study history we obtain a more profound insight into human nature by instituting a comparison between the present and former states of society.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Lyell", "slug": "charles-lyell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell" }, "book": { "title": "Principles of Geology", "slug": "principles-of-geology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-lyell/principles-of-geology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lyell#Principles_of_Geology_(1832),_Vol._1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:20" }, { "id": "12731c09-1b3f-4620-9c69-9923d43a6692", "slug": "man-is-biologically", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality/man-is-biologically", "text": "Man is biologically predestined to construct and to inhabit a world with others. This world becomes for him the dominant and definite reality. Its limits are set by nature, but, once constructed, this world acts back upon nature. In the dialectic between nature and the socially constructed world the human organism itself is transformed. In this same dialectic man produces reality and thereby produces himself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter L. Berger", "slug": "peter-l-berger", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger" }, "book": { "title": "The Social Construction of Reality", "slug": "the-social-construction-of-reality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-l-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 183, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_L._Berger#The_Social_Construction_of_Reality,_1966", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:15" }, { "id": "15609cca-ac7a-498a-b141-b00379fdc6e8", "slug": "there-are-moments", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/connie-willis/bellwether/there-are-moments", "text": "There are moments when rather than reforming the human race I’d like to abandon it altogether and go become, say, one of Dr. O’Reilly’s macaques, which have to have more sense.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Connie Willis", "slug": "connie-willis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/connie-willis" }, "book": { "title": "Bellwether", "slug": "bellwether", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/connie-willis/bellwether" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 75, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Connie_Willis#Bellwether_(1996)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:12" }, { "id": "a430c44c-857d-45b7-a721-f3317a436e13", "slug": "the-feeling-of-commiseration", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius/the-feeling-of-commiseration", "text": "The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference and compliance is the beginning of propriety; and the feeling of right or wrong is the beginning of wisdom.\n\nMen have these Four Beginnings just as they have their four limbs. Having these Four Beginnings, but saying that they cannot develop them is to destroy themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius" }, "book": { "title": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 65, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "wisdom", "slug": "wisdom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencius#The_Mencius", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:06" }, { "id": "28f4b992-377d-47ed-a8a1-da03e8391fca", "slug": "the-sense-of-mercy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius/the-sense-of-mercy", "text": "The sense of mercy is found in all men; the sense of shame is found in all men; the sense of respect is found in all men; the sense of right and wrong is found in all men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius" }, "book": { "title": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencius#The_Mencius", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:06" }, { "id": "0920733f-6185-4bc7-a346-1914f7436479", "slug": "if-you-let", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius/if-you-let", "text": "If you let people follow their feelings, they will be able to do good. This is what is meant by saying that human nature is good.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius" }, "book": { "title": "Mencius", "slug": "mencius", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mencius/mencius" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mencius#The_Mencius", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:06" }, { "id": "67b9103e-aba6-4af6-87c6-431ee13f6def", "slug": "from-the-near", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murray-leinster/the-pirates-of-zan/from-the-near", "text": "From the Near Rim to the farthest of occupied systems, planets circled their suns, and men lived on them, and every man took himself seriously and did not quite believe that the universe had existed before he was born or would long survive his loss.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Murray Leinster", "slug": "murray-leinster", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murray-leinster" }, "book": { "title": "The Pirates of Zan", "slug": "the-pirates-of-zan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/murray-leinster/the-pirates-of-zan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murray_Leinster#The_Pirates_of_Zan_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:58:03" }, { "id": "e2acf1b8-43d8-4ae3-aeee-171f403f424f", "slug": "mankind-has-never", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-cooper/five-to-twelve/mankind-has-never", "text": "Mankind has never been renowned for accepting logical solutions to its most serious problems. As a rule, the degre of logicality of solutions seemed to vary inversely with the urgency or seriousness of the problems.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edmund Cooper", "slug": "edmund-cooper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-cooper" }, "book": { "title": "Five to Twelve", "slug": "five-to-twelve", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edmund-cooper/five-to-twelve" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmund_Cooper#Five_to_Twelve_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:59" }, { "id": "7ac2970c-bcd8-48b0-88eb-801a04c8eef9", "slug": "people-were-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch/white-oleander/people-were-just", "text": "People were just like that. We couldn't even see each other, just the shadows moving, pushed by unseen winds.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Janet Fitch", "slug": "janet-fitch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch" }, "book": { "title": "White Oleander", "slug": "white-oleander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/janet-fitch/white-oleander" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Janet_Fitch#White_Oleander_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:56" }, { "id": "ccbee367-cd28-458d-9aeb-8be33f0ef1d2", "slug": "we-all-of-us-carry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day/we-all-of-us-carry", "text": "We all of us carry the seed of evil in our hearts and souls ... Even the purest, even the most holy. It is part of the human condition, born in us. We cannot root it out. All that we can do — at best — is to prevent it from germinating.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Gemmell", "slug": "david-gemmell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell" }, "book": { "title": "The Swords of Night and Day", "slug": "the-swords-of-night-and-day", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-swords-of-night-and-day" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gemmell#The_Swords_of_Night_and_Day", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:55" }, { "id": "f10ba4c4-8e46-41af-8915-b15af91305ef", "slug": "i-remember-a-tutor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-king-beyond-the-gate/i-remember-a-tutor", "text": "I remember a tutor who told me that all the world's hunters have eyes that faced front: lions, hawks, wolves, men ... He said man was no different from the tiger. We are nature's killers, and we have great appetites for it ... Listen, Rayvan, the beast is in all of us. We do our best in life, but often we are mean, or petty, or needlessly cruel. We don't mean to be, but that's the way we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Gemmell", "slug": "david-gemmell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell" }, "book": { "title": "The King Beyond the Gate", "slug": "the-king-beyond-the-gate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-gemmell/the-king-beyond-the-gate" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gemmell#The_King_Beyond_the_Gate", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:54" }, { "id": "26387472-e5f8-4c75-bf5a-db2b9b769abe", "slug": "politicians-of-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien/my-years-as-prime-minister/politicians-of-all", "text": "Politicians of all stripes are always in danger at looking at every problem from an abstract point of view or being briefed by officials, academics, or economists who know every science but the science of human nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Chretien", "slug": "jean-chretien", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien" }, "book": { "title": "My Years as Prime Minister", "slug": "my-years-as-prime-minister", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-chretien/my-years-as-prime-minister" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 238, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Chr%C3%A9tien#My_Years_As_Prime_Minister_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:51" }, { "id": "78bc79f7-31c9-4185-ba0a-5065071684c4", "slug": "just-being-tan-tan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson/midnight-robber/just-being-tan-tan", "text": "Just being Tan-Tan, sometimes good, sometimes bad, mostly just getting by like everybody else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nalo Hopkinson", "slug": "nalo-hopkinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson" }, "book": { "title": "Midnight Robber", "slug": "midnight-robber", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nalo-hopkinson/midnight-robber" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 326, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nalo_Hopkinson#Midnight_Robber_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:40" }, { "id": "c9d39ceb-4ec9-4949-896d-eff150bbc624", "slug": "sometimes-i-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/travels/sometimes-i-think", "text": "Sometimes I think man needs to feel a special position within nature, and this leads him to believe that he is either specially hated by other animals or specially cherished. Instead of the truth, which is that he's just another animal on the plain. A smart one, but just another animal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Crichton", "slug": "michael-crichton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton" }, "book": { "title": "Travels", "slug": "travels", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/travels" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Travels_(book)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:33" }, { "id": "adff9ceb-0da8-4d29-96f5-e220966d9d6e", "slug": "i-told-about", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendelin-van-draanen/flipped/i-told-about", "text": "I told about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. “It's that way with people, too,” he said, “only with people it's sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wendelin Van Draanen", "slug": "wendelin-van-draanen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendelin-van-draanen" }, "book": { "title": "Flipped", "slug": "flipped", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wendelin-van-draanen/flipped" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendelin_Van_Draanen#Flipped_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:26" }, { "id": "ba722250-fbbc-4a55-9d52-71f359d4e2f0", "slug": "men-are-made", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/blood-meridian/men-are-made", "text": "Men are made of the dust of the earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "Blood Meridian", "slug": "blood-meridian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/blood-meridian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 309, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian#Quotations", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:21" }, { "id": "7b7d4a80-345d-46a5-a6bc-cc1a4f40847e", "slug": "a-mans-at-odds", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/blood-meridian/a-mans-at-odds", "text": "A man’s at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "Blood Meridian", "slug": "blood-meridian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/blood-meridian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 20, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blood_Meridian#Quotations", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:20" }, { "id": "93fb6272-cd3e-47ea-95da-50ec90d634ec", "slug": "we-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jerry-a-coyne/why-evolution-is-true/we-are-the", "text": "We are the one creature to whom natural selection has bequeathed a brain complex enough to comprehend the laws that govern the universe. And we should be proud that we are the only species that has figured out how we came to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jerry A. Coyne", "slug": "jerry-a-coyne", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jerry-a-coyne" }, "book": { "title": "Why Evolution Is True", "slug": "why-evolution-is-true", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jerry-a-coyne/why-evolution-is-true" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 233, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Coyne#Why_Evolution_is_True_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:15" }, { "id": "fcb207ec-2034-4691-a78a-624fecbb66a2", "slug": "man-is-motion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/black-skin-white-masks/man-is-motion", "text": "Man is motion toward the world and toward his like. A movement of aggression, which leads to enslavement or to conquest; a movement of love, a gift of self, the ultimate stage of what by common accord is called ethical orientation. Every consciousness seems to have the capacity to demonstrate these two components, simultaneously or alternatively. The person I love will strengthen me by endorsing my assumption of my manhood, while the need to earn the admiration or the love of others will erect a value-making superstructure on my whole vision of the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frantz Fanon", "slug": "frantz-fanon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon" }, "book": { "title": "Black Skin, White Masks", "slug": "black-skin-white-masks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frantz-fanon/black-skin-white-masks" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 41, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frantz_Fanon#Black_Skin,_White_Masks_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:01" }, { "id": "65b0df3d-5fc4-4295-8551-6d32e5edf92c", "slug": "economic-man-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror/economic-man-and", "text": "Economic man and sensual man are not suppressible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara W. Tuchman", "slug": "barbara-w-tuchman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman" }, "book": { "title": "A Distant Mirror", "slug": "a-distant-mirror", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-w-tuchman/a-distant-mirror" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "sexual desire", "slug": "sexual-desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sexual-desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Tuchman#A_Distant_Mirror_(1978)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:52" }, { "id": "27eeae3a-a57c-4a4b-a1e5-1b07ca998816", "slug": "arts-something-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station/arts-something-you", "text": "\"Art’s something you choose to make … it’s a bringing together of … of everything around you into something that makes you more human, more khepri, whatever. More of a person.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "China Miéville", "slug": "china-mieville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville" }, "book": { "title": "Perdido Street Station", "slug": "perdido-street-station", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/china-mieville/perdido-street-station" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 94, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "art", "slug": "art", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/China_Mi%C3%A9ville#Chapter_8", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:50" }, { "id": "97c85ec8-eb2e-4aad-882f-91bf028a95c7", "slug": "we-do-need", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/we-do-need", "text": "“We do need something to lift us out of ourselves. It’s wrong to carry our pettinesses along to the stars.”\n\n“We will, though,” he said. “We can’t help it. How do you escape being what you are?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Boat of a Million Years", "slug": "the-boat-of-a-million-years", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 438, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#The_Boat_of_a_Million_Years_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:48" }, { "id": "c77685c6-78ed-4c5e-a4c9-5d82329846f6", "slug": "were-mortal-which", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/ensign-flandry/were-mortal-which", "text": "We're mortal - which is to say, we're ignorant, stupid, and sinful - but those are only handicaps. Our pride is that nevertheless, now and then, we do our best. A few times we succeed. What more dare we ask for?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "Ensign Flandry", "slug": "ensign-flandry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/ensign-flandry" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#Ensign_Flandry_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:46" }, { "id": "8fe500e5-862f-4014-9e3f-cfd7cfdca64a", "slug": "a-cultured-sensitive", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/there-will-be-time/a-cultured-sensitive", "text": "A cultured, sensitive, observant man is a pleasure to be with in any age.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "There Will Be Time", "slug": "there-will-be-time", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/there-will-be-time" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 97, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#There_Will_Be_Time_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:46" }, { "id": "5b0b688c-0537-43e9-92c1-733556751485", "slug": "life-was-too", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-enemy-stars/life-was-too", "text": "Life was too short for anything but amusement at the human race.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Poul Anderson", "slug": "poul-anderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Enemy Stars", "slug": "the-enemy-stars", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-enemy-stars" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#The_Enemy_Stars_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:44" }, { "id": "cb5ee577-cce0-48dc-9ee9-386b198265ba", "slug": "if-there-is-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/rhythm-of-war/if-there-is-one", "text": "If there is one thing I can guarantee you about humankind, Last Listener, is is this: Provide them with a sword , and they will find a way to impale themselves upon it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Rhythm of War", "slug": "rhythm-of-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/rhythm-of-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 513, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Rhythm_of_War_(2020)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:40" }, { "id": "55e90bc4-0b4d-44ed-8d27-cf640de1650f", "slug": "all-life-worked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/all-life-worked", "text": "All life worked in concert, he’d been taught in his youth. Everything but men, who refused their place. Who destroyed instead of added.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Oathbringer", "slug": "oathbringer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 985, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Oathbringer_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:39" }, { "id": "0cdd1d55-7de9-4627-827f-d6a539e1571f", "slug": "being-a-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer/being-a-human", "text": "Being a human was about making sense of chaos, finding meaning among the random elements of the world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Oathbringer", "slug": "oathbringer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/oathbringer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 896, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Oathbringer_(2017)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:39" }, { "id": "82bcd5fd-b200-4f85-a616-51348e974915", "slug": "to-be-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/words-of-radiance/to-be-human", "text": "To be human is to seek beauty.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "Words of Radiance", "slug": "words-of-radiance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/words-of-radiance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 528, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Words_of_Radiance_(2014)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:36" }, { "id": "e01959b4-fba3-4722-bea0-9f5e80c30c41", "slug": "i-havent-faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/i-havent-faith", "text": "“I haven’t faith in people any longer, old friend,” Nohadon said. “Put two men together, and they will find something to argue about. Gather them into groups, and one group will find reason to oppress or attack another.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 852, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "cfa249aa-dd1e-4753-81ba-0fd77efeff7c", "slug": "at-times-it-seems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/at-times-it-seems", "text": "At times, it seems to me that to be human is to want that which we cannot have. For some, this is power. For me, it is peace.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 853, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "peace of mind", "slug": "peace-of-mind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace-of-mind" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "0d303278-c12a-47c7-b99d-48bd7147ef0c", "slug": "stories-and-legends", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings/stories-and-legends", "text": "“Stories and legends, Teft,” Kaladin said. “We want to believe that there were better men once. That makes us think it could be that way again. But people don’t change. They are corrupt now. They were corrupt then.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brandon Sanderson", "slug": "brandon-sanderson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Kings", "slug": "the-way-of-kings", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brandon-sanderson/the-way-of-kings" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 832, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nostalgia", "slug": "nostalgia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nostalgia" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#The_Way_of_Kings_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:35" }, { "id": "dac7c6b5-7732-4c4e-aa82-ee7cbcbb30b2", "slug": "they-that-examine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees/they-that-examine", "text": "They that examine into the Nature of Man, abstract from Art and Education, may observe, that what renders him a Sociable Animal, consists not in his desire of Company, Good-nature, Pity, Affability, and other Graces of a fair Outside; but that his vilest and most hateful Qualities are the most necessary Accomplishments to fit him for the largest, and, according to the World, the happiest and most flourishing Societies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bernard Mandeville", "slug": "bernard-mandeville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville" }, "book": { "title": "The Fable of the Bees", "slug": "the-fable-of-the-bees", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-mandeville/the-fable-of-the-bees" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Mandeville#The_Fable_of_the_Bees_(1714)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:26" }, { "id": "80df1738-cbb5-4778-81aa-27d9957e6b38", "slug": "perhaps-because-ill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-lindsay/darkly-dreaming-dexter/perhaps-because-ill", "text": "Perhaps because I'll never be one, humans are interesting to me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jeff Lindsay", "slug": "jeff-lindsay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-lindsay" }, "book": { "title": "Darkly Dreaming Dexter", "slug": "darkly-dreaming-dexter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jeff-lindsay/darkly-dreaming-dexter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeff_Lindsay_(writer)#Darkly_Dreaming_Dexter_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:25" }, { "id": "298cf2cb-c896-465f-abba-f8bd5590a3d5", "slug": "harry-dresden-as-a-whole", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/changes/harry-dresden-as-a-whole", "text": "Harry Dresden: As a whole, people suck, but a person can be extraordinary.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jim Butcher", "slug": "jim-butcher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher" }, "book": { "title": "Changes", "slug": "changes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/changes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Butcher#Changes_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:17" }, { "id": "e0912202-5c29-478a-aa11-c59f04185a05", "slug": "harry-dresden-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/white-night/harry-dresden-were", "text": "Harry Dresden: We're all human. We're all of us equally naked before the jaws of pain.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jim Butcher", "slug": "jim-butcher", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher" }, "book": { "title": "White Night", "slug": "white-night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jim-butcher/white-night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Butcher#White_Night_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:16" }, { "id": "12ececb1-3717-47e7-a506-80de45a8fece", "slug": "first-we-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-shockwave-rider/first-we-had", "text": "First we had the legs race. Then we had the arms race. Now we're going to have the brain race. And, if we're lucky, the final stage will be the human race.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "The Shockwave Rider", "slug": "the-shockwave-rider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/the-shockwave-rider" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#The_Shockwave_Rider_(1975)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:12" }, { "id": "debb48e5-b6d0-4a1d-b258-0f234ce30390", "slug": "what-in-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/what-in-gods", "text": "What in God’s name is it worth to be human, if we have to be saved from ourselves by a machine?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "Stand On Zanzibar", "slug": "stand-on-zanzibar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#Stand_on_Zanzibar_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:10" }, { "id": "aa08a6af-75f1-4610-8256-54077a33cc33", "slug": "who-should-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/who-should-know", "text": "Who should know better than a cosmetician that human beings are less than rational creatures?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Brunner", "slug": "john-brunner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner" }, "book": { "title": "Stand On Zanzibar", "slug": "stand-on-zanzibar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#Stand_on_Zanzibar_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:56:09" }, { "id": "811e868a-3c18-4214-97d5-e877ef0fc20b", "slug": "in-every-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism/in-every-human", "text": "In every human soul there is a socialist and an individualist, an authoritarian and a fanatic for liberty, as in each there is a Catholic and a Protestant. The same is true of the mass movements in which men marshal themselves for common action.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "R. H. Tawney", "slug": "r-h-tawney", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney" }, "book": { "title": "Religion and the Rise of Capitalism", "slug": "religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/r-h-tawney/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._H._Tawney#Religion_and_the_Rise_of_Capitalism_(1926)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:49" }, { "id": "16ec748b-bc99-4197-a990-b5f698dbb2ec", "slug": "what-makes-you-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/the-lost-world/what-makes-you-think", "text": "\"What makes you think human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortablsigmae. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told-and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.' The reason is that beliefs guide behavior which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion. Next question.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Crichton", "slug": "michael-crichton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton" }, "book": { "title": "The Lost World", "slug": "the-lost-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/the-lost-world" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_(Crichton_novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:48" }, { "id": "7d2f1f69-a515-4f48-abc8-87309be99c6c", "slug": "an-animal-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity/an-animal-that", "text": "An animal that liked abstractions? Maybe that wasn’t all that bad a definition of being human.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Beyond Infinity", "slug": "beyond-infinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 392, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Beyond_Infinity_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:25" }, { "id": "3538d492-c9c1-44f6-90e9-d1c9d597a541", "slug": "seeker-laughed-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity/seeker-laughed-you", "text": "Seeker laughed. “You are so—well, human. You always think you are the ultimate.”\n\n“And…we’re not.”\n\nSeeker inspected the ceiling. “It seems unlikely.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory Benford", "slug": "gregory-benford", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford" }, "book": { "title": "Beyond Infinity", "slug": "beyond-infinity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/beyond-infinity" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 120, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#Beyond_Infinity_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:25" }, { "id": "5fa3a978-ef4c-41d5-9da1-e2cec7d7b34f", "slug": "the-greatest-achievement", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth/the-greatest-achievement", "text": "The greatest achievement of humanity is not its works of art, science, or technology, but the recognition of its own dysfunction, its own madness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eckhart Tolle", "slug": "eckhart-tolle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle" }, "book": { "title": "A New Earth", "slug": "a-new-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eckhart-tolle/a-new-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eckhart_Tolle#A_New_Earth_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:00" }, { "id": "b3a075ac-e865-4cc1-b353-2ac0763d39d2", "slug": "we-can-do-without", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-chandler-haliburton/the-clockmaker/we-can-do-without", "text": "We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but when once obtained, it is not 'in human natur' to surrender it voluntarily.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Chandler Haliburton", "slug": "thomas-chandler-haliburton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-chandler-haliburton" }, "book": { "title": "The Clockmaker", "slug": "the-clockmaker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-chandler-haliburton/the-clockmaker" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 15, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "wealth", "slug": "wealth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wealth" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Chandler_Haliburton#The_Clockmaker_(1838)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:50" }, { "id": "dc032bd5-9842-4c01-abc9-0cd59796293f", "slug": "with-his-head", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-weldon-johnson/gods-trombones/with-his-head", "text": "With his head in his hands,\n\nGod thought and thought,\n\nTill he thought: I'll make me a man!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Weldon Johnson", "slug": "james-weldon-johnson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-weldon-johnson" }, "book": { "title": "God's Trombones", "slug": "gods-trombones", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-weldon-johnson/gods-trombones" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Weldon_Johnson#God's_Trombones:_Seven_Negro_Sermons_in_Verse_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:43" }, { "id": "9df7a1eb-e4e2-4aee-b32a-1b18c85b4aad", "slug": "had-there-been", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes/had-there-been", "text": "Had there been no other personal attribute to influence the final outcome, Tarzan of the Apes, the young Lord Greystoke, would have died as he had lived — an unknown savage beast in equatorial Africa.\n\nBut there was that which had raised him far above his fellows of the jungle — that little spark which spells the whole vast difference between man and brute — Reason. This it was which saved him from death beneath the iron muscles and tearing fangs of Terkoz.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Rice Burroughs", "slug": "edgar-rice-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Tarzan of the Apes", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#Tarzan_of_the_Apes_(1912)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:41" }, { "id": "c7058062-96f9-456f-8e4c-0a063b60642b", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes/tarzan-of-the-apes", "text": "Tarzan of the Apes was no sentimentalist. He knew nothing of the brotherhood of man. All things outside his own tribe were his deadly enemies, with the few exceptions of which Tantor, the elephant, was a marked example.\n\nAnd he realized all this without malice or hatred. To kill was the law of the wild world he knew. Few were his primitive pleasures, but the greatest of these was to hunt and kill, and so he accorded to others the right to cherish the same desires as he, even though he himself might be the object of their hunt.\n\nHis strange life had left him neither morose nor bloodthirsty. That he joyed in killing, and that he killed with a joyous laugh upon his handsome lips betokened no innate cruelty. He killed for food most often, but, being a man, he sometimes killed for pleasure, a thing which no other animal does; for it has remained for man alone among all creatures to kill senselessly and wantonly for the mere pleasure of inflicting suffering and death.\n\nAnd when he killed for revenge, or in self-defense, he did that also without hysteria, for it was a very businesslike proceeding which admitted of no levity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Rice Burroughs", "slug": "edgar-rice-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Tarzan of the Apes", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#Tarzan_of_the_Apes_(1912)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:40" }, { "id": "7fad09f6-0852-46f2-9ded-2ecf683523bd", "slug": "now-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes/now-was-the", "text": "Now was the quiet, fierce solitude of the primeval forest broken by new, strange cries. No longer was there safety for bird or beast. Man had come.\n\nOther animals passed up and down the jungle by day and by night — fierce, cruel beasts — but their weaker neighbors only fled from their immediate vicinity to return again when the danger was past.\n\nWith man it is different. When he comes many of the larger animals instinctively leave the district entirely, seldom if ever to return; and thus it has always been with the great anthropoids. They flee man as man flees a pestilence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Rice Burroughs", "slug": "edgar-rice-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Tarzan of the Apes", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#Tarzan_of_the_Apes_(1912)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:40" }, { "id": "24e23516-8058-4816-88c3-482da21a577b", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes-young", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes/tarzan-of-the-apes-young", "text": "Tarzan of the Apes, young and savage beast of the jungle, wondered at the cruel brutality of his own kind.\n\nSheeta, the leopard, alone of all the jungle folk, tortured his prey. The ethics of all the others meted a quick and merciful death to their victims.\n\nTarzan had learned from his books but scattered fragments of the ways of human beings.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Edgar Rice Burroughs", "slug": "edgar-rice-burroughs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs" }, "book": { "title": "Tarzan of the Apes", "slug": "tarzan-of-the-apes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/edgar-rice-burroughs/tarzan-of-the-apes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#Tarzan_of_the_Apes_(1912)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:40" }, { "id": "f479c3bd-2ba8-43af-99aa-be1fabf68ce6", "slug": "you-improve-them", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel/you-improve-them", "text": "“You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves. The exile, captivity, death they shirk from—the blunt facts of their mortality, their abandonment—that’s what you make them recognize, embrace! You are mankind, or man’s condition: inseparable as the mountain-climber and the mountain.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Gardner", "slug": "john-gardner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner" }, "book": { "title": "Grendel", "slug": "grendel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-gardner/grendel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grendel#Chapter_Five", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:23" }, { "id": "a27f266f-764b-4127-bd58-b2f7e7a15287", "slug": "we-are-made", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram/we-are-made", "text": "We are made out of stars, you and I.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory David Roberts", "slug": "gregory-david-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "Shantaram", "slug": "shantaram", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shantaram#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:21" }, { "id": "605a73ae-500a-4d0b-94aa-1198fe65e79d", "slug": "what-characterizes-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram/what-characterizes-the", "text": "What characterizes the human race more,’ Karla once asked me, ‘cruelty or the capacity to feel shame for it?’ I thought the question was acutely clever then, when I first heard it, but I’m lonelier and wiser now, and I know that it isn’t cruelty or shame that characterizes the human races. It’s forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would’ve annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gregory David Roberts", "slug": "gregory-david-roberts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts" }, "book": { "title": "Shantaram", "slug": "shantaram", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-david-roberts/shantaram" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "forgiveness", "slug": "forgiveness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/forgiveness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shantaram#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:21" }, { "id": "05dc57b7-69b8-4630-bff7-fdbf8087540f", "slug": "some-people-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant/some-people-are", "text": "Some people are just born human. The rest of us, we take a lifetime to get there.\" Page 18", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Rant", "slug": "rant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/rant" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rant_(novel)#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:19" }, { "id": "97475a75-da0f-4df8-842c-7c03133b3643", "slug": "but-we-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/but-we-are", "text": "But we are all human, I thought, wondering what I meant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ralph Ellison", "slug": "ralph-ellison", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison" }, "book": { "title": "Invisible Man", "slug": "invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Ellison#Invisible_Man_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:15" }, { "id": "f3111055-8728-4861-9476-94f0c2f05e96", "slug": "man-is-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-banville/the-untouchable/man-is-only", "text": "Man is only lovable in the multitude, and at a good distance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Banville", "slug": "john-banville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-banville" }, "book": { "title": "The Untouchable", "slug": "the-untouchable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-banville/the-untouchable" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Banville#The_Untouchable_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:11" }, { "id": "ed82aada-fb99-47da-8c26-0c8961cce874", "slug": "he-had-a-wall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/he-had-a-wall", "text": "He had a wall of masks from every country he‘d been to, like Armenia and Chile and Ethiopia. It‘s not a horrible world, he told me, but it‘s filled with a lot of horrible people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonathan Safran Foer", "slug": "jonathan-safran-foer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer" }, "book": { "title": "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", "slug": "extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Safran_Foer#Extremely_Loud_and_Incredibly_Close_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:10" }, { "id": "7e3175a0-728e-40e1-9de9-cc94149a7a8e", "slug": "humans-are-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close/humans-are-the", "text": "Humans are the only animal that blushes, laughs, has religion, wages war, and kisses with lips. So in a way, the more you kiss with lips, the more human you are. (p. 99)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonathan Safran Foer", "slug": "jonathan-safran-foer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer" }, "book": { "title": "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", "slug": "extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-safran-foer/extremely-loud-and-incredibly-close" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Safran_Foer#Extremely_Loud_and_Incredibly_Close_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:10" }, { "id": "6ae3d3b8-6847-4315-953e-f9d577c89d3e", "slug": "perfectibility-is-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/perfectibility-is-one", "text": "Perfectibility is one of the most unequivocal characteristics of the human species.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Godwin", "slug": "william-godwin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin" }, "book": { "title": "Enquiry Concerning Political Justice", "slug": "enquiry-concerning-political-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "perfection", "slug": "perfection", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perfection" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin#Enquiry_Concerning_Political_Justice_(1793)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:08" }, { "id": "28e5606b-69d3-446b-abd5-1d1cda756853", "slug": "it-is-a-glorious", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-merton/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander/it-is-a-glorious", "text": "It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Merton", "slug": "thomas-merton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-merton" }, "book": { "title": "Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander", "slug": "conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-merton/conjectures-of-a-guilty-bystander" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton#Conjectures_of_a_Guilty_Bystander_(1966)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:08" }, { "id": "7f5ec0d2-2b08-409a-8966-d55a33745584", "slug": "human-consciousness-isnt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/rule-34/human-consciousness-isnt", "text": "Human consciousness isn’t optimized for anything, except maybe helping feral hominids survive in the wild.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Rule 34", "slug": "rule-34", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/rule-34" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 305, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Rule_34_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:07" }, { "id": "12fc5657-94a7-4dab-847b-1e334e58a959", "slug": "its-a-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state/its-a-thing", "text": "It’s a thing of beauty, the ability to spin the cloth of reality, and you’re a sucker for it: Isn’t story-telling what being human is all about?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Halting State", "slug": "halting-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/halting-state" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 96, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Halting_State_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:06" }, { "id": "de546c59-2258-46df-bfc2-1fd7cef6474d", "slug": "people-didnt-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/iron-sunrise/people-didnt-always", "text": "People didn’t always follow their best interests. Human beings were distressingly bad at risk analysis, lousy with hidden motivations and neuroses, anything but the clean rational actors that economists or diplomats wanted so desperately to believe in, and diplomats had to go by capabilities, not intentions.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Iron Sunrise", "slug": "iron-sunrise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/iron-sunrise" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 245, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Iron_Sunrise_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:05" }, { "id": "c7246433-67ca-4bdf-b6b2-f66aebe8ecca", "slug": "i-dont-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky/i-dont-like", "text": "“I don’t like their system, and they know it. That’s why I’m sitting in this cell instead of in my cabin, or on the engineering deck. But—” He shrugged. “Their social system is one thing, but people are people everywhere you go, just trying to get along in this crazy universe. I don’t like them as individuals, but that’s not the same as wanting them dead. They’re not monsters, and they don’t deserve what’s coming to them, and life isn’t fair, is it?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Stross", "slug": "charles-stross", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross" }, "book": { "title": "Singularity Sky", "slug": "singularity-sky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-stross/singularity-sky" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 183, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "empathy", "slug": "empathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Stross#Singularity_Sky_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:04" }, { "id": "45a1dffd-2fcd-439a-9916-e91759c5ad9c", "slug": "humans-are-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/one-of-our-thursdays-is-missing/humans-are-more", "text": "Humans are more or less identical except for a few peculiar habits generally delineated by geographic circumstances and historical precedent. But essentially, they’re all the same and reading from the same rule book. To get along you have to appreciate the rules, but also know that other people know the rules—and that they know that you know the rules. Get it?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jasper Fforde", "slug": "jasper-fforde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde" }, "book": { "title": "One of Our Thursdays Is Missing", "slug": "one-of-our-thursdays-is-missing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jasper-fforde/one-of-our-thursdays-is-missing" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 189, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jasper_Fforde#One_of_Our_Thursdays_is_Missing_(2011)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:54:01" }, { "id": "d9f373dd-c9c4-4679-916f-e477c5c56dea", "slug": "it-will-be-very", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby/it-will-be-very", "text": "It will be very generally found that those who sneer habitually at human nature [...] are among its worst and least pleasant samples.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "Nicholas Nickleby", "slug": "nicholas-nickleby", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/nicholas-nickleby" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cynicism", "slug": "cynicism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cynicism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nicholas_Nickleby#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:43" }, { "id": "8480e4c3-95db-496f-a656-58d4d6d642ae", "slug": "i-am-ruminating", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/the-pickwick-papers/i-am-ruminating", "text": "\"I am ruminating,\" said Mr. Pickwick, \"on the strange mutability of human affairs.\" \"Ah! I see — in at the palace door one day, out at the window the next. Philosopher, Sir?\" \"An observer of human nature, Sir,\" said Mr. Pickwick. \"Ah, so am I. Most people are when they've little to do and less to get.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "The Pickwick Papers", "slug": "the-pickwick-papers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/the-pickwick-papers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Pickwick_Papers#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:41" }, { "id": "6f75b778-7edb-48e8-8be9-c6a7de34600f", "slug": "so-they-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-amber-spyglass-his-dark-materials-3/so-they-had", "text": "So they had language, and they had fire, and they had society. And about then she found an adjustment being made in her mind, as the word creatures became the word people. These beings weren’t human, but they were people, she told herself; it’s not them, they’re us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Pullman", "slug": "philip-pullman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman" }, "book": { "title": "The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials 3", "slug": "the-amber-spyglass-his-dark-materials-3", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-amber-spyglass-his-dark-materials-3" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "otherness", "slug": "otherness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/otherness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman#The_Amber_Spyglass_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:37" }, { "id": "6e5d08ce-c7ac-44d1-b809-ccea3f012627", "slug": "for-a-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2/for-a-human", "text": "“For a human being, nothing comes naturally,” said Grumman. “We have to learn everything we do.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Pullman", "slug": "philip-pullman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman" }, "book": { "title": "The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials 2", "slug": "the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/the-subtle-knife-his-dark-materials-2" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman#The_Subtle_Knife_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:37" }, { "id": "947541eb-009a-466f-bea7-ce7f82dfed4c", "slug": "human-beings-cant", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/northern-lights-his-dark-materials-1/human-beings-cant", "text": "Human beings can’t see anything without wanting to destroy it, Lyra. That’s original sin.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip Pullman", "slug": "philip-pullman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman" }, "book": { "title": "Northern Lights: His Dark Materials 1", "slug": "northern-lights-his-dark-materials-1", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-pullman/northern-lights-his-dark-materials-1" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "sin", "slug": "sin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sin" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman#Northern_Lights_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:36" }, { "id": "9afd445b-82b3-4195-9a4e-9df83534d63c", "slug": "i-respect-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud/the-fixer/i-respect-man", "text": "I respect man for what he has to go through in life, and sometimes for how he does it, but he has changed little since he began to pretend he was civilized, and the same thing may be said about our society. That is how I feel, but having made that confession let me say, as you may have guessed, that I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all, as a pessimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small thing to offer – he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity. (Bibikov to Yakov)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bernard Malamud", "slug": "bernard-malamud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud" }, "book": { "title": "The Fixer", "slug": "the-fixer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bernard-malamud/the-fixer" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "optimism", "slug": "optimism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/optimism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fixer#Part_Five", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:35" }, { "id": "2a545e21-20bb-4a5d-a92d-2870d880bd8d", "slug": "these-are-stories", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan/the-botany-of-desire/these-are-stories", "text": "These are stories, then, about Man and Nature. We’ve been telling ourselves such stories forever, as a way of making sense of what we call our “relationship to nature”—to borrow that curious, revealing phrase. (What other species can even be said to have a “relationship” to nature?) For a long time now, the Man in these stories has gazed at Nature across a gulf of awe or mystery or shame. Even when the tenor of these narratives changes, as it has over time, the gulf remains. There’s the old heroic story, where Man is at war with Nature; the romantic version, where Man merges spiritually with Nature (usually with some help from the pathetic fallacy); and, more recently, the environmental morality tale, in which Nature pays Man back for his transgressions, usually in the coin of disaster—three different narratives (at least), yet all of them share a premise we know to be false, but can’t seem to shake: that we somehow stand outside, or apart from, nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Pollan", "slug": "michael-pollan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan" }, "book": { "title": "The Botany of Desire", "slug": "the-botany-of-desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan/the-botany-of-desire" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Pollan#The_Botany_of_Desire_(2001)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:33" }, { "id": "aa1d5b37-c264-46c2-a227-57b3d1a7059b", "slug": "no-one-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi/no-one-thing", "text": "No one thing shows the greatness and power of the human intellect or the loftiness and nobility of man more than his ability to know and to understand fully and feel strongly his own smallness. When, in considering the multiplicity of worlds, he feels himself to be an infinitesimal part of a globe which itself is a negligible part of one of the infinite number of systems that go to make up the world, and in considering this is astonished by his own smallness, and in feeling it deeply and regarding it intently, virtually blends into nothing, and it is as if he loses himself in the immensity of things, and finds himself as though lost in the incomprehensible vastness of existence, with this single act and thought he gives the greatest possible proof of the nobility and immense capability of his own mind, which, enclosed in such a small and negligible being, has nonetheless managed to know and understand things so superior to his own nature, and to embrace and contain this same intensity of existence and things in his thought.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Giacomo Leopardi", "slug": "giacomo-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi" }, "book": { "title": "Zibaldone: The Notebooks of Leopardi", "slug": "zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Leopardi#Zibaldone_(1898)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:26" }, { "id": "1498675b-d75d-4fc1-bcd7-3e24b491ceed", "slug": "two-truths-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi/two-truths-that", "text": "Two truths that most men will never believe: one that we know nothing, the other that we are nothing. Add the third, which depends a lot on the second: that there is nothing to hope for after death.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Giacomo Leopardi", "slug": "giacomo-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi" }, "book": { "title": "Zibaldone: The Notebooks of Leopardi", "slug": "zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/giacomo-leopardi/zibaldone-the-notebooks-of-leopardi" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "knowledge", "slug": "knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Leopardi#Zibaldone_(1898)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:26" }, { "id": "2c4e85c8-7474-4aaf-b9b4-d133018e32c9", "slug": "i-thought-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alfred-russel-wallace/the-malay-archipelago/i-thought-of-the", "text": "I thought of the long ages of the past, during which the successive generations of this little creature had run their course — year by year being born, and living and dying amid these dark and gloomy woods, with no intelligent eye to gaze upon their loveliness; to all appearance such a wanton waste of beauty. Such ideas excite a feeling of melancholy. It seems sad that on the one hand such exquisite creatures should live out their lives and exhibit their charms only in these wild inhospitable regions, doomed for ages yet to come to hopeless barbarism; while, on the other hand, should civilized man ever reach these distant lands, and bring moral, intellectual, and physical light into the recesses of these virgin forests, we may be sure that he will so disturb the nicely-balanced relations of organic and inorganic nature as to cause the disappearance, and finally the extinction, of these very beings whose wonderful structure and beauty he alone is fitted to appreciate and enjoy. This consideration must surely tell us that all living things were not made for man. Many of them have no relation to him. The cycle of their existence has gone on independently of his, and is disturbed or broken by every advance in man’s intellectual development; and their happiness and enjoyments, their loves and hates, their struggles for existence, their vigorous life and early death, would seem to be immediately related to their own well-being and perpetuation alone, limited only by the equal well-being and perpetuation of the numberless other organisms with which each is more or less intimately connected.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alfred Russel Wallace", "slug": "alfred-russel-wallace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alfred-russel-wallace" }, "book": { "title": "The Malay Archipelago", "slug": "the-malay-archipelago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alfred-russel-wallace/the-malay-archipelago" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "beauty", "slug": "beauty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace#The_Malay_Archipelago_(1869)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:24" }, { "id": "a9f349c9-0e39-410b-ab1b-1284505e8d16", "slug": "we-all-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata/we-all-think", "text": "We all think we’re special, and in a way we are, but, at the same time, that feeling of being special is one of the things that’s common to us all, that unites us and makes us the same as each other. And when that feeling of…specialness is questioned, we feel threatened, naturally.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iain M. Banks", "slug": "iain-m-banks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks" }, "book": { "title": "The Hydrogen Sonata", "slug": "the-hydrogen-sonata", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iain-m-banks/the-hydrogen-sonata" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 388, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iain_Banks#The_Hydrogen_Sonata_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:21" }, { "id": "512d4879-2b38-4bf5-9465-b93ecb469f44", "slug": "man-wants-to-see", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-kurlansky/cod/man-wants-to-see", "text": "Man wants to see nature and evolution as separate from human activities. There is a natural world, and there is man. But man also belongs to the natural world. If he is a ferocious predator, that too is part of evolution. If cod and haddock and other species cannot survive because man kills them, something more adaptable will take their place. Nature, the ultimate pragmatist, doggedly searches for something that works. But as the cockroach demonstrates, what works best in nature does not always appeal to us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Kurlansky", "slug": "mark-kurlansky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-kurlansky" }, "book": { "title": "Cod", "slug": "cod", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-kurlansky/cod" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 204, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Kurlansky#Cod:_A_Biography_of_the_Fish_That_Changed_the_World_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:13" }, { "id": "751fabb8-45af-41e2-bccb-86bd745a589c", "slug": "the-world-seems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker/dracula/the-world-seems", "text": "The world seems full of good men—even if there are monsters in it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bram Stoker", "slug": "bram-stoker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker" }, "book": { "title": "Dracula", "slug": "dracula", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bram-stoker/dracula" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dracula_(novel)#Chapter_XVII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:53:03" }, { "id": "04cde7db-173f-40b0-954d-5a819c121c75", "slug": "the-actions-of-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilkie-collins/the-law-and-the-lady/the-actions-of-human", "text": "The actions of human beings are not invariably governed by the laws of pure reason", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilkie Collins", "slug": "wilkie-collins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilkie-collins" }, "book": { "title": "The Law and the Lady", "slug": "the-law-and-the-lady", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilkie-collins/the-law-and-the-lady" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 32, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilkie_Collins#The_Law_and_the_Lady_(1875)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:56" }, { "id": "6edcf772-6fbd-41cf-9b08-6076e7eb9b5d", "slug": "i-made-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith/selected-poems/i-made-man", "text": "I made Man with too many faults. Yet I love him.\n\nAnd if he wishes, I have a home above for him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stevie Smith", "slug": "stevie-smith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith" }, "book": { "title": "Selected Poems", "slug": "selected-poems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stevie-smith/selected-poems" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stevie_Smith#Selected_Poems_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:54" }, { "id": "f4a8853c-0ec4-4fb4-acdd-258a376ac14b", "slug": "the-fact-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex/the-fact-that", "text": "The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one another; it is never the given that confers superiorities: \"virtue\", as the ancients called it, is defined at the level of \"that which depends on us\". In both sexes is played out the same drama of the flesh and the spirit, of finitude and transcendence; both are gnawed away by time and laid in wait for by death, they have the same essential need for one another; and they can gain from their liberty the same glory. If they were to taste it, they would no longer be tempted to dispute fallacious privileges, and fraternity between them could then come into existence.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "The Second Sex", "slug": "the-second-sex", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/the-second-sex" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#The_Second_Sex_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:52" }, { "id": "3da783c9-fc3b-457f-bf10-8f679388f919", "slug": "try-to-stay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/all-men-are-mortal/try-to-stay", "text": "Try to stay a man amongst men … There's no other hope for you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "slug": "simone-de-beauvoir", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir" }, "book": { "title": "All Men Are Mortal", "slug": "all-men-are-mortal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/simone-de-beauvoir/all-men-are-mortal" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir#All_Men_are_Mortal_(1946)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:51" }, { "id": "2d42bc3c-8471-4fd0-9e81-0cef7404ce22", "slug": "it-is-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy/it-is-better", "text": "It is better to believe in men too rashly, and regret, than believe too meanly. Men could be more than they are, if they would try for it. He has shown them that. How many have tried, because of him? Not only those I have seen; there will be men to come. Those who look in mankind only for their own littleness, and make them believe in that, kill more than he ever will in all his wars.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mary Renault", "slug": "mary-renault", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault" }, "book": { "title": "The Persian Boy", "slug": "the-persian-boy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mary-renault/the-persian-boy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 312, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "trust", "slug": "trust", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/trust" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Renault#The_Persian_Boy_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:49" }, { "id": "afa604a3-97a7-478d-98c7-35dd4d9d128a", "slug": "humans-do-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jk-rowling/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/humans-do-have", "text": "Humans do have a knack for choosing precisely those things which are worst for them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J.K. Rowling", "slug": "jk-rowling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jk-rowling" }, "book": { "title": "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", "slug": "harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jk-rowling/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone#The_Man_with_Two_Faces", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:39" }, { "id": "b01f03d9-21a1-4880-b41a-f324020ac037", "slug": "ive-seen-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/outer-dark/ive-seen-the", "text": "I've seen the meanness of humans till I dont know why God aint put out the sun and gone away.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "Outer Dark", "slug": "outer-dark", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/outer-dark" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cormac_McCarthy#Outer_Dark_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:29" }, { "id": "a112c9c6-fe1c-45a9-b9d3-e358b4b3e10b", "slug": "you-think-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/child-of-god/you-think-people", "text": "You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said.\n\nThe old man was looking out at the flooded town. No, he said, I don't. I think people are the same from the day God first made one. (p.158)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Cormac McCarthy", "slug": "cormac-mccarthy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy" }, "book": { "title": "Child of God", "slug": "child-of-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/cormac-mccarthy/child-of-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cormac_McCarthy#Child_of_God_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:29" }, { "id": "b1477cd2-e952-4df8-bb26-fac9afe00ad3", "slug": "human-nature-is-by-definition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave/human-nature-is-by-definition", "text": "Human nature is, by definition, a talkative one, imprudent, indiscreet, gossipy, incapable of closing its mouth and keeping it closed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "The Cave", "slug": "the-cave", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/the-cave" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 117, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "gossip", "slug": "gossip", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/gossip" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#The_Cave_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:14" }, { "id": "8e732c0f-58e4-44c7-8d9a-24f933516329", "slug": "the-sceptics-who", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/the-sceptics-who", "text": "The sceptics, who are many and stubborn, claim that, when it comes to human nature, if it is true that the opportunity does not always make the thief, it is also true that it helps a lot.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "Blindness", "slug": "blindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 16, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "theft", "slug": "theft", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/theft" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#Blindness_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:13" }, { "id": "52335286-0d29-46f0-9838-e9476f37337d", "slug": "this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness/this-is-the", "text": "This is the stuff we're made of, half indifference and half malice.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "José Saramago", "slug": "jose-saramago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago" }, "book": { "title": "Blindness", "slug": "blindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jose-saramago/blindness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 32, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "indifference", "slug": "indifference", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/indifference" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago#Blindness_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:13" }, { "id": "c7ceb50b-f540-41e3-bfb5-5afc8110a17f", "slug": "as-we-shall", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/the-world-until-yesterday/as-we-shall", "text": "As we shall see in this book's chapters, traditional societies are far more diverse in many of their cultural practices than are modern industrial societies. [...] Yet psychologists base most of their generalizations about human nature on studies of our own narrow and atypical slice of human diversity. [...] That is, as social scientists Joseph Henrich, Steven Heine, and Ara Norenzayan express it, most of our understanding of human psychology is based on subjects who may be described by the acronym WEIRD: from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic societies. [...] Hence if we wish to generalize about human nature, we need to broaden greatly our study sample from the usual WEIRD subjects [...] to the whole range of traditional societies.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jared Diamond", "slug": "jared-diamond", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond" }, "book": { "title": "The World Until Yesterday", "slug": "the-world-until-yesterday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/the-world-until-yesterday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jared_Diamond#The_World_Until_Yesterday:_What_Can_We_Learn_from_Traditional_Societies%3F_(2012)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:07" }, { "id": "39851f06-6011-4b6f-9b1c-7587ec748d9e", "slug": "put-another-way", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/the-third-chimpanzee/put-another-way", "text": "Put another way, the chimpanzees' closest relative is not the gorilla but humans.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jared Diamond", "slug": "jared-diamond", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond" }, "book": { "title": "The Third Chimpanzee", "slug": "the-third-chimpanzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jared-diamond/the-third-chimpanzee" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jared_Diamond#The_Third_Chimpanzee:_The_Evolution_and_Future_of_the_Human_Animal_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:06" }, { "id": "f8df6390-6086-4d4c-9c06-0ef1eed73f85", "slug": "herein-lies-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk/herein-lies-the", "text": "Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor, — all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked, — who is good? not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "W.E.B. Dubois", "slug": "web-dubois", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois" }, "book": { "title": "The Souls of Black Folk", "slug": "the-souls-of-black-folk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/web-dubois/the-souls-of-black-folk" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "empathy", "slug": "empathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois#The_Souls_of_Black_Folk_(1903)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:52:02" }, { "id": "38037a49-07f6-489f-8793-ef69b61ab08f", "slug": "down-underneath-there", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death/down-underneath-there", "text": "Down underneath, there wasn’t much difference between people and animals. War brought that out all kinds of ways.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Settling Accounts: In at the Death", "slug": "settling-accounts-in-at-the-death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 304, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Settling_Accounts:_In_at_the_Death_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:55" }, { "id": "6e152ad3-1202-4bea-ba6d-2b6329ed7fc6", "slug": "people-keep-coming", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east/people-keep-coming", "text": "“People keep coming up with new ways to maim their fellow man. I don’t know why I don’t despair of the human race.”\n\n“Somebody once said people were the missing link between apes and human beings,” McDougald said wistfully. “Damned if he didn’t hit that one on the button.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harry Turtledove", "slug": "harry-turtledove", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove" }, "book": { "title": "Settling Accounts: Drive to the East", "slug": "settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-drive-to-the-east" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 434, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#Settling_Accounts:_Drive_to_the_East_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:54" }, { "id": "bf47372b-26db-4e18-9aca-4ae9fa70608a", "slug": "throughout-life-our", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations/throughout-life-our", "text": "Throughout life, our worst weaknesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people we most despise.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dickens", "slug": "charles-dickens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens" }, "book": { "title": "Great Expectations", "slug": "great-expectations", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/great-expectations" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "flaws", "slug": "flaws", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/flaws" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Great_Expectations#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:43" }, { "id": "63ea6133-5ab5-47cd-bb84-1b1dc4e4466a", "slug": "the-world-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/the-world-cannot", "text": "The world cannot live at the level of its great men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "mediocrity", "slug": "mediocrity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mediocrity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "614d8212-2d0e-4749-a59a-031dfaeda35f", "slug": "man-has-created", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough/man-has-created", "text": "Man has created gods in his own likeness and being himself mortal he has naturally supposed his creatures to be in the same sad predicament.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James George Frazer", "slug": "james-george-frazer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer" }, "book": { "title": "The Golden Bough", "slug": "the-golden-bough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-george-frazer/the-golden-bough" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Frazer#The_Golden_Bough_(1890)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:38" }, { "id": "412623e3-9423-4c72-8700-f85bf6a5221d", "slug": "of-the-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war/of-the-gods", "text": "Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thucydides", "slug": "thucydides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides" }, "book": { "title": "History of the Peloponnesian War", "slug": "history-of-the-peloponnesian-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thucydides/history-of-the-peloponnesian-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thucydides#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:36" }, { "id": "9a178c03-e74d-4722-b604-44629598f467", "slug": "what-small-potatoes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dudley-warner/my-summer-in-a-garden/what-small-potatoes", "text": "What small potatoes we all are, compared with what we might be!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Charles Dudley Warner", "slug": "charles-dudley-warner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dudley-warner" }, "book": { "title": "My Summer in a Garden", "slug": "my-summer-in-a-garden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dudley-warner/my-summer-in-a-garden" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Dudley_Warner#My_Summer_in_a_Garden_(1870)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:35" }, { "id": "6d5393bb-4e15-4434-98c3-41640fef03ae", "slug": "they-lost-their", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/elizabeth-costello/they-lost-their", "text": "They lost their humanity, in our eyes, because of a certain willed ignorance on their part.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "J. M. Coetzee", "slug": "j-m-coetzee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee" }, "book": { "title": "Elizabeth Costello", "slug": "elizabeth-costello", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/j-m-coetzee/elizabeth-costello" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ignorance", "slug": "ignorance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ignorance" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee#Elizabeth_Costello_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:32" }, { "id": "330e1a5c-5b2a-4221-b30b-58321117ef14", "slug": "the-human-problem", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/the-human-problem", "text": "“The human problem?” I asked, somewhat offended.\n\nShe put her arm around me. “Forgive me, Gretamara, but your race as a whole has the unfailing habit of fouling its nest, killing its original planet, and doing its best to kill any others to which it is moved. Because we love and admire the human race for its many good qualities, we call this not ‘the human condition,’ meaning an irrevocable state, but ‘the human problem,’ one we wish to solve. The effort has gone on for some millennia, without result, and some of those involved in the effort are beginning to believe it is a waste of time and treasure.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "The Margarets", "slug": "the-margarets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 276, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Margarets_(2007)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:28" }, { "id": "e2e42960-a5f8-4b26-9f0b-0b3a27b3ccf8", "slug": "any-mankind-person", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/any-mankind-person", "text": "Any mankind person worth his salt can simultaneously incubate whole clutches of ideas that are either contradictory or mutually exclusive. For instance, mankind has persuaded itself that its race is perfectible, though it hasn’t changed physically, mentally, or psychologically since the Cro-Magnon. Mankind has also persuaded itself that each individual is unique, though each person shares ninety-nine and ninety-nine one hundredths of his DNA and roughly the same percentage of his ideas with thousands or even millions of other persons.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 216, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" }, { "name": "paradox", "slug": "paradox", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/paradox" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "a6501f7a-9654-4bc3-ac1c-049599e61f37", "slug": "mankind-had-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/mankind-had-always", "text": "Mankind had always had a propensity for trying to govern the ungovernable and to control what was uncontrollable. Mankind had always relied upon laws and rules to direct those drives that did not care about laws or rules. Pragmatism had at last prevailed.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 157, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "7126eba7-ea67-4635-8ce1-12b09683346a", "slug": "if-you-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance/if-you-have", "text": "If you have read your assignment, you know that mankind has a stratified mentality. The ancient lizard mind lies below the mammalian mind, which lies below a primate mind, which is modified by a mind adapted to language, and since these layers have developed in response to differing evolutionary pressures, they often do not function efficiently together. Human civility tries to control ape dominance, human rationality tries to control mammalian sexuality, human social conscience tries to ameliorate reptilian greed, never with total success.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Six Moon Dance", "slug": "six-moon-dance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/six-moon-dance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 98, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Six_Moon_Dance_(1998)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:25" }, { "id": "2c1ab941-d25f-46c2-97c6-11e78a994321", "slug": "as-the-gauphin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end/as-the-gauphin", "text": "As the Gauphin taught, people are ridiculous! We have language and history, we have technology and philosophy, and we still have not achieved good sense and self-control!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Shadow’s End", "slug": "shadows-end", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/shadows-end" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 315, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "self-control", "slug": "self-control", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-control" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Shadow's_End_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:24" }, { "id": "af0fdd2f-ffa5-4dcd-a3b0-59447b15aebd", "slug": "its-exactly-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/its-exactly-the", "text": "“It’s exactly the way we thought and acted. Men didn’t have to be better! At least, not in terms of western thought, he didn’t. He strutted and crowed and told himself just as he was, he was made in the image of God! It was easier to depend on heaven than be responsible on earth, but humans were divinely created so why worry.”\n\n“And you don’t believe he was? Human?”\n\n“He wasn’t what I thought of as sapiens. In my opinion, very few of us were sapiens. Maybe none of us were. Maybe we’d had a chance of becoming sapiens, but we threw it away.”\n\n“When did mankind do that?”\n\n“In Nela’s time, I think. It was then that pitiful people who saw no reality and knew no science declared the holiness of reproduction. And while the liberals were preserving the right to beget, the reactionaries were preserving the faults in our gene pool. We could corrupt and destroy all the rest of creation, but our own germ plasm was sacred. It didn’t matter that there were billions of us, but anything sapiens about us was far more threatened by our numbers than by any change we might make in ourselves.…”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 324, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "41801263-9903-4953-8fe2-8b1ce887f705", "slug": "the-ultimate-destiny", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow/the-ultimate-destiny", "text": "The Ultimate Destiny of Man is to stop being only man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sheri S. Tepper", "slug": "sheri-s-tepper", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper" }, "book": { "title": "Sideshow", "slug": "sideshow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/sideshow" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 478, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "fate", "slug": "fate", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fate" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#Sideshow_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:23" }, { "id": "8bcef71f-4daf-461f-b3f7-89c6b974cd8f", "slug": "it-is-when", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim/it-is-when", "text": "It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Lord Jim", "slug": "lord-jim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "empathy", "slug": "empathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_Jim#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:16" }, { "id": "0fd2c32c-832f-43ca-9d35-7051d2218987", "slug": "this-magnificent-butterfly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim/this-magnificent-butterfly", "text": "This magnificent butterfly finds a little heap of dirt and sits still on it; but man he will never on his heap of mud keep still.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Lord Jim", "slug": "lord-jim", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/lord-jim" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_Jim#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:16" }, { "id": "b9575cb6-2986-475c-a129-38e31a9df49d", "slug": "the-earth-seemed", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/heart-of-darkness/the-earth-seemed", "text": "The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there — there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were, — No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it — this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled, and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity — like yours — the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you — you so remote from the night of first ages — could comprehend. And why not? The mind of man is capable of anything — because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future. What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valour, rage — who can tell? — but truth — truth stripped of its cloak of time. Let the fool gape and shudder — the man knows, and can look on without a wink. But he must at least be as much of a man as these on the shore. He must meet that truth with his own true stuff — with his own inborn strength. Principles? Principles won't do. Acquisitions, clothes, pretty rags — rags that would fly off at the first good shake. No; you want a deliberate belief.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Conrad", "slug": "joseph-conrad", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad" }, "book": { "title": "Heart of Darkness", "slug": "heart-of-darkness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-conrad/heart-of-darkness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "beliefs", "slug": "beliefs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness#Part_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:13" }, { "id": "1cb66e6b-25aa-4582-9d62-a121281fa072", "slug": "i-might-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/imago/i-might-not", "text": "I might not have believed this if a Human had said it. Humans said one thing with their bodies and another with their mouths and everybody had to spend time and energy figuring out what they really meant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Octavia E. Butler", "slug": "octavia-e-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Imago", "slug": "imago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/octavia-e-butler/imago" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 548, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" }, { "name": "honesty", "slug": "honesty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honesty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavia_Butler#Imago_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:51:10" }, { "id": "39007114-17e8-49aa-9174-6cb58cce4b83", "slug": "man-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacob-bronowski/the-ascent-of-man/man-is-not", "text": "Man is not the most majestic of the creatures; long before the mammals even, the dinosaurs were far more splendid. But he has what no other animal possesses: a jigsaw of faculties, which alone, over three thousand million years of life, made him creative. Every animal leaves traces of what he was. Man alone leaves traces of what he created.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jacob Bronowski", "slug": "jacob-bronowski", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacob-bronowski" }, "book": { "title": "The Ascent Of Man", "slug": "the-ascent-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacob-bronowski/the-ascent-of-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "creativity", "slug": "creativity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacob_Bronowski#The_Ascent_of_Man_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:49" }, { "id": "5812dd5f-bcde-4b8e-8251-cc9d0c7150de", "slug": "what-is-it-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates/what-is-it-that", "text": "\"What is it that separates human beings from the so called lower animals? Well as I see it, it's exactly one half dozen significant things: Humor, Imagination, Eroticism — as opposed to the mindless, instinctive mating of glow-worms or raccoons — Spirituality, Rebelliousness, and Aesthetics, an appreciation of beauty for its own sake. Now, since those are the features that define a human being, it follows that the extent to which someone is lacking in those qualities is the extent to which he or she is less than human. Capisce?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Tom Robbins", "slug": "tom-robbins", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins" }, "book": { "title": "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates", "slug": "fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/tom-robbins/fierce-invalids-home-from-hot-climates" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "imagination", "slug": "imagination", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins#Fierce_Invalids_Home_from_Hot_Climates_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:39" }, { "id": "bafa9a6a-9535-4757-b3fc-2d95427e5428", "slug": "all-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ/all-is-not", "text": "All is not frustrated, though thou find thyself very often afflicted or grievously tempted. Thou art man, not God; thou art flesh, not an angel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Kempis", "slug": "thomas-kempis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis" }, "book": { "title": "The Imitation of Christ", "slug": "the-imitation-of-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-kempis/the-imitation-of-christ" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "temptation", "slug": "temptation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/temptation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_%C3%A0_Kempis#The_Imitation_of_Christ_(c._1418)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:28" }, { "id": "636a32f6-84ab-43e0-9caa-1d7b9f7ae120", "slug": "man-is-as-much", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider/man-is-as-much", "text": "Man is as much a slave to his immediate surroundings now as he was when he lived in tree-huts. Give him the highest, the most exciting thoughts about man's place in the universe, the meaning of history; they can all be snuffed out in a moment if he wants his dinner, or feels irritated by a child squalling on a bus. He is bound by pettiness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Colin Wilson", "slug": "colin-wilson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson" }, "book": { "title": "The Outsider", "slug": "the-outsider", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson#The_Outsider_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:21" }, { "id": "d30a856f-ba17-465c-94c7-23755e7ab46b", "slug": "a-learning-grows", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dbc-pierre/vernon-god-little/a-learning-grows", "text": "A learning grows in me like a tumor. It's about the way different needy people find the quickest route to get some attention in their miserable fucken lives. The fucken oozing nakedness, the despair of being such a vulnerable egg-sac of a critter, like, a so-called human being, just sickens me sometimes, especially right now. The Human Condition, Mom calls it. Watch out for that fucker.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "DBC Pierre", "slug": "dbc-pierre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dbc-pierre" }, "book": { "title": "Vernon God Little", "slug": "vernon-god-little", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dbc-pierre/vernon-god-little" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vernon_God_Little#Act_II._How_I_spent_my_summer_vacation", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:15" }, { "id": "44c36bde-0a83-4794-9fe2-6931e142cbf7", "slug": "people-are-chaotic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/london-fields/people-are-chaotic", "text": "People are chaotic quiddities living in one cave each. They pass the hours in amorous grudge and playback and thought-experiment. At the camp fire they put the usual fraction on exhibit, and listen to their own silent gibber about how they're feeling and how they're going down. We've been there. Death helps. Death gives us something to do. Because it's a fulltime job looking the other way.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Martin Amis", "slug": "martin-amis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis" }, "book": { "title": "London Fields", "slug": "london-fields", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/london-fields" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis#London_Fields_(1989)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:13" }, { "id": "c9e02343-c205-445a-ad6d-90e0dca28917", "slug": "einsteins-monsters-by-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/einsteins-monsters/einsteins-monsters-by-the", "text": "\"Einstein's Monsters,\" by the way, refers to nuclear weapons, but also to ourselves. We are Einstein's monsters, not fully human, not for now.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Martin Amis", "slug": "martin-amis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis" }, "book": { "title": "Einstein's Monsters", "slug": "einsteins-monsters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/martin-amis/einsteins-monsters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nuclear weapons", "slug": "nuclear-weapons", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nuclear-weapons" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis#Einstein's_Monsters_(1987)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:50:12" }, { "id": "440e486e-a034-41e8-8417-9f8b51a0e91e", "slug": "possibly-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/guards-guards/possibly-in-the", "text": "Possibly in the dark hours of a sleepless night some of them might have remembered the subsequent events and formed a pretty good and gut-churning insight, to whit, that one of the things sometimes forgotten about the human spirit is that while it is, in the right conditions, noble and brave and wonderful, it is also, when you get right down to it, only human. (pp. 267-268)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "Guards! Guards!", "slug": "guards-guards", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/guards-guards" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Guards!_Guards!#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:55" }, { "id": "b99c19af-beec-400b-8fa2-1f62393460a6", "slug": "madmen-he-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-light-fantastic/madmen-he-said", "text": "\"Madmen,\" he said. \"They say I should do no work because the star comes. I tell them stars have never hurt me, I wish I could say the same about people.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Terry Pratchett", "slug": "terry-pratchett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett" }, "book": { "title": "The Light Fantastic", "slug": "the-light-fantastic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/the-light-fantastic" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Light_Fantastic#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:51" }, { "id": "4e244a56-7414-423d-9583-48e36c26a7fb", "slug": "and-lots-wife", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/slaughterhouse-five/and-lots-wife", "text": "And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.\n\nSo she was turned into a pillar of salt. So it goes. (pp. 21-22)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Slaughterhouse-Five", "slug": "slaughterhouse-five", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/slaughterhouse-five" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the past", "slug": "the-past", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse-Five#Chapter_1", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:45" }, { "id": "36324684-e684-4b9a-935b-6cebe3ec45bd", "slug": "any-human-face", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead/any-human-face", "text": "Any human face is a claim on you, because you can't help but understand the singularity of it, the courage and loneliness of it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Marilynne Robinson", "slug": "marilynne-robinson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson" }, "book": { "title": "Gilead", "slug": "gilead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/marilynne-robinson/gilead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilynne_Robinson#Gilead_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:42" }, { "id": "3ae4a1d2-923c-4cc0-bfd9-5ee32b111fff", "slug": "no-matter-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist/no-matter-what", "text": "No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paulo Coelho", "slug": "paulo-coelho", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho" }, "book": { "title": "The Alchemist", "slug": "the-alchemist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paulo-coelho/the-alchemist" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 158, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho#The_Alchemist_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:32" }, { "id": "c5090e53-400c-4a02-adf8-aa5f9f05f195", "slug": "if-you-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/proxima/if-you-were", "text": "If you were anywhere near the center of human affairs, even to the extent that she was, your predominant emotion had to be disappointment at the way in which an age when opportunities for humanity had never been greater, old flaws—territorialism, combativeness, reluctance to transcend cultural barriers, a sheer inability simply to see things from the other guy’s point of view—looked set to bring the sky crashing down on all their heads.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Proxima", "slug": "proxima", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/proxima" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 398, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "disappointment", "slug": "disappointment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/disappointment" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Proxima_(2013)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:25" }, { "id": "440ee66c-7e12-484b-ad76-b2b054f38be9", "slug": "no-morrow-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/ring/no-morrow-said", "text": "“No,” Morrow said. “I can’t accept that. I don’t always agree with the Planners. But they aren’t killers.”\n\n“You think not?” Uvarov laughed again. “The survivalists—your ‘Planners’—are psychotic. Of course. As I am. And you. We are a fundamentally flawed species. Most of humanity, for most of its history, has been driven by a series of mass psychotic delusions. The labels changed, but the nature of the delusions barely varied...”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Ring", "slug": "ring", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/ring" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 669, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Ring_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:24" }, { "id": "0066923b-d472-495e-b806-58963719c5de", "slug": "as-the-natural", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution/as-the-natural", "text": "As the natural systems of the planet broke down, humans would discover conclusively that they were still, after all, just animals in an ecosystem; and as it died back, so did they.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Baxter", "slug": "stephen-baxter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter" }, "book": { "title": "Evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-baxter/evolution" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 525, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter#Evolution_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:24" }, { "id": "e06b2a4e-3270-4dfc-a2a7-291a96133961", "slug": "if-the-kirk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood/if-the-kirk", "text": "If the Kirk confines human nature too strictly, it will break out in secret ways, for men and women are born into a terrestrial world, though they have hopes of Heaven.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Buchan", "slug": "john-buchan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan" }, "book": { "title": "Witch Wood", "slug": "witch-wood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-buchan/witch-wood" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan#Witch_Wood_(1927)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:21" }, { "id": "607aa95c-44d4-497b-ad98-8b043798de5e", "slug": "if-more-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/if-more-people", "text": "If more people had put their fellow human beings before abstractions last century, we shouldn’t be where we are now.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brian Aldiss", "slug": "brian-aldiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss" }, "book": { "title": "Greybeard", "slug": "greybeard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 190, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ideas", "slug": "ideas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss#Greybeard_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:12" }, { "id": "5eac3f86-9525-42ea-add7-f3fcd7397a4f", "slug": "the-shuffle-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard/the-shuffle-only", "text": "The shuffle only demonstrated people’s fatuous belief in a political cure for a human condition.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brian Aldiss", "slug": "brian-aldiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss" }, "book": { "title": "Greybeard", "slug": "greybeard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/greybeard" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 170, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss#Greybeard_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:12" }, { "id": "1a092724-1f97-43c0-a36f-8a61df32cc73", "slug": "man-was-an-accident", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/hothouse/man-was-an-accident", "text": "Man was an accident on this world or it would have been made better for him!", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Brian Aldiss", "slug": "brian-aldiss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss" }, "book": { "title": "Hothouse", "slug": "hothouse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/brian-aldiss/hothouse" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "irony", "slug": "irony", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/irony" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss#Hothouse_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:12" }, { "id": "863707d1-e67d-4cca-94e6-19be5e9460f2", "slug": "man-is-an-eternal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous/man-is-an-eternal", "text": "Man is an eternal sophomore.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wallace Stevens", "slug": "wallace-stevens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens" }, "book": { "title": "Opus Posthumous", "slug": "opus-posthumous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/opus-posthumous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wallace_Stevens#Adagia", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:11" }, { "id": "38e808fd-9415-4c1a-9fbc-c776f18b1294", "slug": "he-doubted-very", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/a-choice-of-gods/he-doubted-very", "text": "He doubted very much that at any time man could have been said to have truly owned the earth. Rather, they had taken it, wresting it from the other creatures that had as much right of ownership as they, but without the intelligence or the ingenuity or power to assert their rights. Man had been pushy, arrogant interloper rather than the owner. He had taken over by the force of mind, which could be as detestable as the force of muscle, making his own rules, setting his own goals, establishing his own values in utter disregard of all other living things.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "A Choice of Gods", "slug": "a-choice-of-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/a-choice-of-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 84, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#A_Choice_of_Gods_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:01" }, { "id": "2e22cb86-2f7d-4ba4-9418-a71a878c2512", "slug": "they-would-fail", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/all-flesh-is-grass/they-would-fail", "text": "They would fail. We would always fail. We weren’t built to do anything but fail. We had the wrong kind of motives and we couldn’t change them. We had a built-in short-sightedness and an inherent selfishness and a self-concern that made it impossible to step out of the little human rut we traveled.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "All Flesh is Grass", "slug": "all-flesh-is-grass", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/all-flesh-is-grass" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 195, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "selfishness", "slug": "selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#All_Flesh_is_Grass_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:01" }, { "id": "5b899d2c-3552-4e5d-a4bb-4e47f0f99e1c", "slug": "it-was-a-hopeless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/way-station/it-was-a-hopeless", "text": "It was a hopeless thing, he thought, this obsession of his to present the people of the Earth as good and reasonable. For in many ways they were neither good nor reasonable; perhaps because they had not as yet entirely grown up. They were smart and quick and at times compassionate and even understanding, but they failed lamentably in many other ways.\n\nBut if they had the chance, Enoch told himself, if they ever got a break, if they only could be told what was out in space, then they'd get a grip upon themselves and they would measure up and then, in the course of time, would be admitted into the great cofraternity of the people of the stars.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "Way Station", "slug": "way-station", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/way-station" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#Way_Station_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:49:00" }, { "id": "b2c7576e-9da5-4115-8c77-9a98be177a1f", "slug": "before-man-goes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again/before-man-goes", "text": "Before Man goes to the stars he should learn how to live on Earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "Time and Again", "slug": "time-and-again", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 204, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#Time_and_Again_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:59" }, { "id": "f0ffefae-14bf-4080-96d7-699ff8aa94df", "slug": "and-here-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again/and-here-and", "text": "And here and there a human who saw the rightness of the proposition that Man could not, by mere self-assertion, be a special being; understanding that it was to his greater glory to take his place among the other things of life, as a simple thing of life, as a form of life that could lead and teach and be a friend rather than a thing that conquered and ruled and stood as one apart.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clifford D. Simak", "slug": "clifford-d-simak", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak" }, "book": { "title": "Time and Again", "slug": "time-and-again", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clifford-d-simak/time-and-again" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 195, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak#Time_and_Again_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:58" }, { "id": "f5314079-51b7-48ee-942c-bb3fcb788d61", "slug": "our-generation-is-realistic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/viktor-frankl/mans-search-for-meaning/our-generation-is-realistic", "text": "Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Viktor Frankl", "slug": "viktor-frankl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/viktor-frankl" }, "book": { "title": "Man's Search for Meaning", "slug": "mans-search-for-meaning", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/viktor-frankl/mans-search-for-meaning" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "Holocaust", "slug": "holocaust", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/holocaust" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Man's_Search_for_Meaning#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:57" }, { "id": "c394490f-3c7f-4c08-90cd-42c94490f549", "slug": "laurel-could-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eudora-welty/the-optimists-daughter/laurel-could-not", "text": "Laurel could not see her face but only the back of her neck, the most vulnerable part of anybody, and she thought: Is there any sleeping person you can be entirely sure you have not misjudged?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eudora Welty", "slug": "eudora-welty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eudora-welty" }, "book": { "title": "The Optimist's Daughter", "slug": "the-optimists-daughter", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eudora-welty/the-optimists-daughter" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eudora_Welty#The_Optimist's_Daughter(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:48" }, { "id": "7601c6f2-be7c-458d-81b4-3d1cc219fb27", "slug": "everything-in-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chrissie-hynde/reckless/everything-in-nature", "text": "Everything in nature lives according to some order so it seems unlikely that humans live outside this system, even if they try to resist their instincts. That's how we can be sure we're not animals, this refusal to abide by what we know is good for us. If an animal's instinct tells him to avoid something he has no trouble keeping a wide berth. We, on the other hand, run in the direction of danger if it offers a thrill or satisfies a curiosity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chrissie Hynde", "slug": "chrissie-hynde", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chrissie-hynde" }, "book": { "title": "Reckless", "slug": "reckless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chrissie-hynde/reckless" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chrissie_Hynde#Reckless_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:46" }, { "id": "3093599e-bf62-4f66-b6ad-bfbc3287aad9", "slug": "i-knew-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar/i-knew-that", "text": "I knew that it was human nature which lay at the root of History and that no matter where I found myself I was bound to discover superficial similarities expressing and exemplifying that nature. It was human idealism and human impatience and human despair which continued to produce these terrible wars. Human virtues and vices, mixed and confused in individuals, created what we called “History”. Yet I could see no way in which the vicious circle of aspiration and desperation might ever be broken. We were all victims of our own imagination.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Steel Tsar", "slug": "the-steel-tsar", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-steel-tsar" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 339, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Steel_Tsar_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:44" }, { "id": "9e180e60-49ce-48f8-93b0-6c590a593879", "slug": "we-are-content", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords/we-are-content", "text": "“We are content here. None starves or goes in need of anything. There was no reason for the unrest. So we are victims of powers beyond our control, are we? I like not that—whether it be Law or Chaos. I would prefer to remain neutral…”\n\n“Aye,” said Jhary-a-Conel. “Any thinking man does in these conflicts. Yet there are times when sides must be taken lest all that one loves is destroyed. I have never known another answer to the problem, though the taking of an extreme position will always make a man lose something of his humanity.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Michael Moorcock", "slug": "michael-moorcock", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock" }, "book": { "title": "The Queen of the Swords", "slug": "the-queen-of-the-swords", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 185, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock#The_Queen_of_the_Swords_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:40" }, { "id": "8ddc3da5-d94c-4e3b-ac18-908bf179bc8a", "slug": "we-know-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre/we-know-that", "text": "We know that the real lesson to be taught is that the human person is precious and unique; but we seem unable to set it forth except in terms of ideology and abstraction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Iris Murdoch", "slug": "iris-murdoch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch" }, "book": { "title": "Sartre", "slug": "sartre", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/iris-murdoch/sartre" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 148, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ideas", "slug": "ideas", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ideas" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch#Sartre:_Romantic_Rationalist_(1953)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:29" }, { "id": "db657387-2f11-45d4-bca4-c44bedf5b83b", "slug": "surely-mankind-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/the-confessions-of-nat-turner/surely-mankind-has", "text": "“Surely mankind has yet to be born. Surely this is true! For only something blind and uncomprehending could exist in such a mean conjunction with its own flesh, its own kind. How else account for such faltering, clumsy, hateful cruelty? Even the possums and the skunks know better! Even the weasels and the meadow mice have a natural regard for their own blood and kin. Only the insects are low enough to do the low things that people do — like those ants that swarm on poplars in the summertime, greedily husbanding little green aphids for the honeydew they secrete. Yes, it could be that mankind has yet to be born. Ah, what bitter tears God must weep at the sight of the things that men do to other men!” He broke off then and I saw him shake his head convulsively, his voice a sudden cry: “In the name of money! Money! ”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Styron", "slug": "william-styron", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron" }, "book": { "title": "The Confessions of Nat Turner", "slug": "the-confessions-of-nat-turner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-styron/the-confessions-of-nat-turner" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Styron#The_Confessions_of_Nat_Turner_(1967)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:26" }, { "id": "cbcaefcb-3f32-45d9-a6c1-726b36916bce", "slug": "because-the-prehistoric", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/because-the-prehistoric", "text": "Because the prehistoric cultures endured for so many chiliads, they have shaped our heritage in such a way as to cause us to behave as if their conditions obtained today.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Citadel of the Autarch", "slug": "the-citadel-of-the-autarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:25" }, { "id": "934504db-cd5e-498a-be3a-96303a604d19", "slug": "every-person-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch/every-person-you", "text": "Every person, you see, is like a plant. There is a beautiful green part, often with flowers or fruit, that grows upward toward the sun, toward the Increate. There is also a dark part that grows away from it, tunneling where no light comes. [...] Was I speaking of good and evil? It is the roots that give the plant the strength to climb toward the sun, though they know nothing of it. [...] The things we love in others and admire in ourselves spring from things we do not see and seldom think about.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Citadel of the Autarch", "slug": "the-citadel-of-the-autarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-citadel-of-the-autarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Citadel_of_the_Autarch_(1983)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:24" }, { "id": "4466a761-1e33-4cdd-b5bf-b948dd988bc6", "slug": "that-we-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-claw-of-the-conciliator/that-we-are", "text": "That we are capable only of being what we are remains our unforgivable sin.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gene Wolfe", "slug": "gene-wolfe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe" }, "book": { "title": "The Claw Of The Conciliator", "slug": "the-claw-of-the-conciliator", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gene-wolfe/the-claw-of-the-conciliator" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "sin", "slug": "sin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sin" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun#The_Claw_of_the_Conciliator_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:23" }, { "id": "a31102ff-b0d9-4cc9-aa9a-a9408bc0b3fe", "slug": "the-history-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rachel-l-carson/silent-spring/the-history-of-life", "text": "The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings, has been relatively slight. Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species-man-acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Rachel L Carson", "slug": "rachel-l-carson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rachel-l-carson" }, "book": { "title": "Silent Spring", "slug": "silent-spring", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rachel-l-carson/silent-spring" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson#Silent_Spring_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:22" }, { "id": "a1ce8646-24b4-44e8-9e78-03a5c62a4d03", "slug": "yes-i-learned", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/flight-from-neveryon/yes-i-learned", "text": "Yes, I learned about monsters on that trip. And I learned about them in these encounters afterward:\n\nFirst, monsters are real.\n\nSecond, they are us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "Flight from Neveryon", "slug": "flight-from-neveryon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/flight-from-neveryon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 318, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#Flight_from_Nev%C3%A8r%C3%BFon_(1985)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:21" }, { "id": "c51fe7e0-f5a7-4f60-8d73-d5f55aae356d", "slug": "i-was-thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns/i-was-thinking", "text": "I was thinking about what I said to you about customs and morals keeping people apart, making them different from one another. People are so much more alike than different. So much more.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "City of a Thousand Suns", "slug": "city-of-a-thousand-suns", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 327, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#City_of_a_Thousand_Suns_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:17" }, { "id": "f62aeb81-bf1d-4d36-a891-10296351343c", "slug": "they-could-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns/they-could-all", "text": "They could all know now if they wanted, but they are too embarrassed. Rolth, for three thousand years everyone has tried to find a word to differentiate men from other animals; some of the ancients called him the laughing animal, some the moral animal. Well, I wonder if he isn’t the embarrassed animal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel R. Delany", "slug": "samuel-r-delany", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany" }, "book": { "title": "City of a Thousand Suns", "slug": "city-of-a-thousand-suns", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 294, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "shame", "slug": "shame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany#City_of_a_Thousand_Suns_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:16" }, { "id": "edfc72f2-568d-4bef-93e8-a745a3ec3aab", "slug": "people-seen-by-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-prime-minister/people-seen-by-the", "text": "People seen by the mind are exactly different to things seen by the eye. They grow smaller and smaller as you come nearer down to them, whereas things become bigger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony Trollope", "slug": "anthony-trollope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope" }, "book": { "title": "The Prime Minister", "slug": "the-prime-minister", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-trollope/the-prime-minister" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope#The_Prime_Minister_(1876)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:48:02" }, { "id": "f3fb2e2c-6729-489e-88bd-d8460b85e174", "slug": "t-he-human-being", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men/t-he-human-being", "text": "[T]he human being is a very complicated contraption and […] they are not good or bad but are good and bad and the good comes out of bad and the bad out of good[.]", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Penn Warren", "slug": "robert-penn-warren", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren" }, "book": { "title": "All the King's Men", "slug": "all-the-kings-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-penn-warren/all-the-kings-men" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/All_the_King's_Men#Chapter_6", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:58" }, { "id": "ed9e95f0-9556-45b7-a7a2-69b0edeaf801", "slug": "the-march-of-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver/animal-dreams/the-march-of-human", "text": "The march of human progress seemed mainly a matter of getting over that initial shock of being here.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara Kingsolver", "slug": "barbara-kingsolver", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver" }, "book": { "title": "Animal Dreams", "slug": "animal-dreams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver/animal-dreams" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Kingsolver#Animal_Dreams_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:53" }, { "id": "04d54185-a70b-4ef5-9f16-91850690efc2", "slug": "were-animals-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver/animal-dreams/were-animals-were", "text": "We're animals. We're born like every other mammal and we live our whole lives around disguised animal thoughts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Barbara Kingsolver", "slug": "barbara-kingsolver", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver" }, "book": { "title": "Animal Dreams", "slug": "animal-dreams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/barbara-kingsolver/animal-dreams" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 118, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Kingsolver#Animal_Dreams_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:53" }, { "id": "ca9e793d-fbb3-44be-b5e5-53143745c582", "slug": "no-matter-how", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide/no-matter-how", "text": "No matter how well you know what a person has done and what he thought of what he was doing when he did it and what he now thinks of what he did, it is impossible to be certain of what he will do next.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Xenocide", "slug": "xenocide", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/xenocide" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "uncertainty", "slug": "uncertainty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/uncertainty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Xenocide#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:44" }, { "id": "f975aa5a-5a64-4022-9b30-ccf196b121b4", "slug": "no-human-being", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead/no-human-being", "text": "No human being, when you understand his desires, is worthless. No one's life is nothing. Even the most evil of men and women, if you understand their hearts, had some generous act that redeems them, at least a little, from their sins.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Speaker for the Dead", "slug": "speaker-for-the-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/speaker-for-the-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "empathy", "slug": "empathy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/empathy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Speaker_for_the_Dead#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:43" }, { "id": "739117f6-33f6-498f-b578-552a6781e89b", "slug": "the-liberating-force", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/the-liberating-force", "text": "The liberating force of technology—the instrumentalization of things—turns into … the instrumentalization of man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 159, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:39" }, { "id": "d2997285-f035-4bbf-a4c8-c6e3ecab2c34", "slug": "man-today-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man/man-today-can", "text": "Man today can do more than the culture heros and half-gods; he has solved many insoluble problems. But he has also betrayed the hope and destroyed the truth which were preserved in the sublimations of higher culture. To be sure, the higher culture was always in contradiction with social reality, and only a privileged minority enjoyed its blessings and represented its ideals. The two antagonistic spheres of society have always coexisted; the higher culture has always been accommodating, while the reality was rarely disturbed by its ideals and its truth. Today's novel feature is the flattening out of the antagonism between culture and social reality through the obliteration of the oppositional, alien, and transcendent elements in the higher culture by virtue of which it constituted another dimension of reality. This liquidation of two-dimensional culture takes place not through the denial and rejection of the “cultural values,” but through their wholesale incorporation into the established order, through their reproduction and display on a massive scale.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herbert Marcuse", "slug": "herbert-marcuse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse" }, "book": { "title": "One-Dimensional Man", "slug": "one-dimensional-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herbert-marcuse/one-dimensional-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 56, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse#One-Dimensional_Man_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:38" }, { "id": "4d551c3d-ade9-4b6a-9876-19ad9123df77", "slug": "there-are-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nikolai-gogol/dead-souls/there-are-people", "text": "There are people who exist in this world not like entities but like the speckles or spots on something.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nikolai Gogol", "slug": "nikolai-gogol", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nikolai-gogol" }, "book": { "title": "Dead Souls", "slug": "dead-souls", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nikolai-gogol/dead-souls" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolai_Gogol#Dead_Souls_(1842)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:37" }, { "id": "eedc2d4a-3b18-4785-a116-ce7a66e544f8", "slug": "i-think-theres", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird/i-think-theres", "text": "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Harper Lee", "slug": "harper-lee", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee" }, "book": { "title": "To Kill a Mockingbird", "slug": "to-kill-a-mockingbird", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/harper-lee/to-kill-a-mockingbird" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harper_Lee#To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:35" }, { "id": "83be5f5c-e663-4432-b32f-4ca0acabd390", "slug": "man-is-fundamentally", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism/man-is-fundamentally", "text": "MAN IS FUNDAMENTALLY AN ANIMAL. Animals, as distinct from man, are not machine-like, not sadistic; their societies, within the same species, are incomparably more peaceful than those of man. The basic question, then is: What has made the animal, man, degenerate into a machine?\n\nWhen I say \"animal,\" I do not mean anything bad, cruel or \"base\"; I am stating a biological fact. Man has developed the peculiar concept that he is not an animal at all, but, well — man; a creature which long since has shed that which is \"bad,\" which is \"animal.\" He demarcates himself in all possible ways from the bad animal and points, in proof of his \"being better,\" to culture and civilization which distinguish him from the animal. He shows, in his whole behavior, his \"theories of values,\" his moral philosophies, his \"monkey trials\" and such, that he does not want to be reminded of the fact that basically he is an animal, an animal, furthermore, which has much more in common with the \"animal\" than with that being which he asserts to be and dreams of being. The theory of the German Übermensch has this origin. Man shows by his maliciousness, his inability to live in peace with his kind, his wars, that what distinguishes him from the other animals is only his unbounded sadism and the mechanical trinity of the authoritarian concept of life, mechanistic science and the machine. If one looks at the results of civilization as they present themselves over long periods of time, one finds that these contentions of man are not only erroneous; more than that, they seem to be made expressly for the purpose of making man forget that he is an animal.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wilhelm Reich", "slug": "wilhelm-reich", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich" }, "book": { "title": "The Mass Psychology of Fascism", "slug": "the-mass-psychology-of-fascism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilhelm-reich/the-mass-psychology-of-fascism" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" }, { "name": "civilization", "slug": "civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich#Ch._10_:_Work_Democracy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "6a49f105-724c-4542-896d-b1e068b36611", "slug": "no-matter-where", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/akira-kurosawa/something-like-an-autobiography/no-matter-where", "text": "No matter where I go in the world, although I can't speak any foreign language, I don't feel out of place. I think of the earth as my home. If everyone thought this way, people might notice just how foolish international friction is, and they would put an end to it. We are, after all, at a point where it is almost narrow-minded to think merely in geocentric terms. Human beings have launched satellites into outer space, and yet they still grovel on earth looking at their own feet like wild dogs. What is to become of our planet?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Akira Kurosawa", "slug": "akira-kurosawa", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/akira-kurosawa" }, "book": { "title": "Something Like An Autobiography", "slug": "something-like-an-autobiography", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/akira-kurosawa/something-like-an-autobiography" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa#Something_Like_an_Autobiography_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:34" }, { "id": "581b4459-0358-44b7-baaf-03800a25009c", "slug": "above-all-we-should", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac/above-all-we-should", "text": "Above all we should, in the century since Darwin, have come to know that man, while now captain of the adventuring ship, is hardly the sole object of its quest, and that his prior assumptions to this effect arose from the simple necessity of whistling in the dark.\n\nThese things, I say, should have come to us. I fear they have not come to many.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldo Leopold", "slug": "aldo-leopold", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold" }, "book": { "title": "A Sand County Almanac", "slug": "a-sand-county-almanac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 110, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold#%22Wisconsin:_Marshland_Elegy,%22_%22Wisconsin:_The_Sand_Counties%22_%22Wisconsin:_On_a_Monument_to_the_Pigeon,%22_and_%22Wisconsin:_Flambeau%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:21" }, { "id": "0a861307-f9e7-4b7c-a1cc-688c2e819994", "slug": "man-brings-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac/man-brings-all", "text": "Man brings all things to the test of himself, and this is notably true of lightning.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldo Leopold", "slug": "aldo-leopold", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold" }, "book": { "title": "A Sand County Almanac", "slug": "a-sand-county-almanac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldo-leopold/a-sand-county-almanac" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 8, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold#%22January_Thaw%22,_%22February:_Good_Oak%22_%26_%22March:_The_Geese_Return%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:20" }, { "id": "e9919998-be78-47d4-be32-70068cbe9589", "slug": "it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer/miami-and-the-siege-of-chicago/it-is-the", "text": "It is the smell of the stockyards, all of it taken together, a smell so bad one must go down to visit the killing of the animals or never eat meat again. Watching the animals be slaughtered, one knows the human case — no matter how close to angel we may come, the butcher is equally there.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Norman Mailer", "slug": "norman-mailer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer" }, "book": { "title": "Miami and the Siege of Chicago", "slug": "miami-and-the-siege-of-chicago", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer/miami-and-the-siege-of-chicago" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 87, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Mailer#Miami_and_the_Siege_of_Chicago_(1968)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:14" }, { "id": "57e34fcb-8fba-450f-9844-efb2eea8a577", "slug": "theres-that-popular", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer/the-naked-and-the-dead/theres-that-popular", "text": "There's that popular misconception of man as something between a brute and an angel. Actually man is in transit between brute and God.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Norman Mailer", "slug": "norman-mailer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer" }, "book": { "title": "The Naked and the Dead", "slug": "the-naked-and-the-dead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/norman-mailer/the-naked-and-the-dead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Mailer#The_Naked_and_the_Dead_(1948)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:12" }, { "id": "94d8cdc7-4de1-4fed-978b-1436d9344fa7", "slug": "youve-never-felt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/youve-never-felt", "text": "\"You've never felt how small you were when looking at the ocean.\"\n\nHe laughed. \"Never. Nor looking at the planets. Nor at mountain peaks. Nor at the Grand Canyon. Why should I? When I look at the ocean, I feel the greatness of man. I think of man's magnificent capacity that created this ship to conquer all that senseless space. When I look at mountain peaks, I think of tunnels and dynamite. When I look at the planets, I think of airplanes.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 477, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_III_(_Gail_Wynand_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:09" }, { "id": "b1c0a225-d20f-4c71-b132-a9562c73bd74", "slug": "one-cant-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/one-cant-love", "text": "\"One can't love man without hating most of the creatures who pretend to bear his name. It's one or the other. One doesn't love God and sacrilege impartially. Except when one doesn't know that sacrilege has been committed. Because one doesn't know God.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 476, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_III_(_Gail_Wynand_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "ae7d0974-d4ef-4934-b8e6-81c2d68d67a5", "slug": "surely-youve-seen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/surely-youve-seen", "text": "\"Surely you've seen through that particular stupidity. I mean the one that claims the pig is the symbol of love for humanity—the creature that accepts anything. As a matter of fact, the person who loves everybody and feels at home everywhere is the true hater of mankind. He expects nothing of men, so no form of depravity can outrage him.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 475, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_III_(_Gail_Wynand_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "4b802278-cddd-4ca2-9e00-05b9604e3567", "slug": "youre-called-a-hater", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead/youre-called-a-hater", "text": "\"You're called a hater of humanity, Mrs. Keating, because you've committed the crime of knowing a love humanity has not learned to deserve.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Fountainhead", "slug": "the-fountainhead", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-fountainhead" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 476, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Fountainhead#Part_III_(_Gail_Wynand_)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:47:08" }, { "id": "99008e48-d479-4ec3-9553-07388a3117ca", "slug": "there-is-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-lathe-of-heaven/there-is-nothing", "text": "There is nothing important except people. A person is defined solely by the extent of his influence over other people, by the sphere of his interrelationships; and morality is an utterly meaningless term unless defined as the good one does to others, the fulfilling of one’s function in the sociopolitical whole.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Lathe Of Heaven", "slug": "the-lathe-of-heaven", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-lathe-of-heaven" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Lathe_of_Heaven_(1971)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:58" }, { "id": "ad6a8b99-fdde-4415-9947-2f7caaa17bea", "slug": "what-harm-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/what-harm-have", "text": "“What harm have the trees done them?” he said. “Must they punish the grass for their own faults? Men are savages, who would set a land afire because they have a quarrel with other men.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Farthest Shore", "slug": "the-farthest-shore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Farthest_Shore_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:56" }, { "id": "22e039c9-540f-46f1-8521-9ba4be77c384", "slug": "there-is-a-certain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore/there-is-a-certain", "text": "There is a certain bleakness in finding hope where one expected certainty. Arren found himself unwilling to stay on these cold summits. He said after a little while, “I see why you say that only men do evil, I think. Even sharks are innocent; they kill because they must.”\n\n\"That is why nothing else can resist us. Only one thing in the world can resist an evil-hearted man. And that is another man. In our shame is our glory. Only our spirit, which is capable of evil, is capable of overcoming it.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Farthest Shore", "slug": "the-farthest-shore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-farthest-shore" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Farthest_Shore_(1972)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:56" }, { "id": "6fdea75e-c779-4c45-8f03-ddbeb722eae1", "slug": "were-not-outside", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling/were-not-outside", "text": "\"We're not outside the world, yoz. You know? We are the world. We're its language. So we live and it lives. You see?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Telling", "slug": "the-telling", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-telling" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 133, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Telling_(2000)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:54" }, { "id": "425781a6-1988-4909-a851-ccca90f51f6b", "slug": "it-is-not-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness/it-is-not-human", "text": "It is not human to be without shame and without desire.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ursula K. Le Guin", "slug": "ursula-k-le-guin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin" }, "book": { "title": "The Left Hand of Darkness", "slug": "the-left-hand-of-darkness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ursula-k-le-guin/the-left-hand-of-darkness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 177, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" }, { "name": "shame", "slug": "shame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin#The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:53" }, { "id": "214774e2-f75c-4aa7-a702-46db8e07eca6", "slug": "it-is-a-slightly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-bryson/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything/it-is-a-slightly", "text": "It is a slightly arresting notion that if you were to pick yourself apart with tweezers, one atom at a time, you would produce a mound of fine atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but all of which had once been you.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Bill Bryson", "slug": "bill-bryson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-bryson" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Nearly Everything", "slug": "a-short-history-of-nearly-everything", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/bill-bryson/a-short-history-of-nearly-everything" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Bryson#A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything_(2003)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:36" }, { "id": "47d5b1b0-f28d-4259-ba4f-68f25f112b86", "slug": "though-it-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/diane-ackerman/a-natural-history-of-the-senses/though-it-has", "text": "Though it has a certain Russian-roulette quality to it, eating fugu is considered a highly aesthetic experience. That makes one wonder about the condition that we, in chauvinistic shorthand, referred to as “human.” Creatures who will one day vanish from the earth in the ultimate subtraction of sensuality that we call death, we spend our lives courting death, fomenting wars, watching sickening horror movies in which maniacs slash and torture their victims, hurrying our own deaths in fast cars, cigarette smoking, suicide. Death obsesses us, as well it might, but our response to it is so strange. Faced with tornadoes chewing up homes, with dust storms ruining crops, floods and earthquakes swallowing up whole cities, with ghostly diseases that gnaw at one’s bone marrow, cripple, or craze—rampant miseries that need no special bidding, but come freely, giving their horror like alms—you’d think human beings would hold out against the forces of Nature, combine their efforts and become allies, not create devastation of their own, not add to one another’s miseries. Death does such fine work without us. How strange that people, whole countries sometimes, wish to be its willing accomplices.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Diane Ackerman", "slug": "diane-ackerman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/diane-ackerman" }, "book": { "title": "A Natural History of the Senses", "slug": "a-natural-history-of-the-senses", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/diane-ackerman/a-natural-history-of-the-senses" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 170, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Diane_Ackerman#A_Natural_History_of_the_Senses_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:34" }, { "id": "42990ee5-d2a6-4412-b82e-c902914d82f4", "slug": "indeed-bugg-is-it-because", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/midnight-tides/indeed-bugg-is-it-because", "text": "\"Indeed Bugg. is it because, do you think, at the human core, we are naught but liars and cheats?\"\n\n\"Probably.\"\n\n\"With no hope of ever overcoming our instinctive nastiness?\"\n\n\"Hard to say. How have we done so far?\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steven Erikson", "slug": "steven-erikson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson" }, "book": { "title": "Midnight Tides", "slug": "midnight-tides", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/midnight-tides" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson#Midnight_Tides_(2004)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:31" }, { "id": "bc9d4258-4332-40dd-adff-e1b6df1968a5", "slug": "i-look-at-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/gardens-of-the-moon/i-look-at-you", "text": "I look at you and I see a man because that’s what men are capable of—I don’t hunt for excuses because I don’t like to think that that’s how nasty we can get. We look at Sorry and we see reflections of ourselves. Hood take it, if we don’t like what we see.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steven Erikson", "slug": "steven-erikson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson" }, "book": { "title": "Gardens Of The Moon", "slug": "gardens-of-the-moon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/gardens-of-the-moon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 124, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson#Gardens_of_the_Moon_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:30" }, { "id": "4aab0d69-2e4e-4c7c-b98f-329c7dd2893c", "slug": "we-all-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/mostly-harmless/we-all-like", "text": "\"We all like to congregate... at boundary conditions. Where land meets water. Where earth meets air. Where body meets mind. Where time meets space. We like to be on one side, and look at the other.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Douglas Adams", "slug": "douglas-adams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams" }, "book": { "title": "Mostly Harmless", "slug": "mostly-harmless", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/mostly-harmless" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:29" }, { "id": "8d6e7357-d2d7-46ac-b29a-35485d63f9ca", "slug": "far-out-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-primary-phase/far-out-in-the", "text": "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Douglas Adams", "slug": "douglas-adams", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams" }, "book": { "title": "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: Primary Phase", "slug": "the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-primary-phase", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-primary-phase" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Introduction", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:46:24" }, { "id": "a2c42dec-10ab-4bef-992e-5aa4c8d16f9c", "slug": "for-man-unlike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-grapes-of-wrath/for-man-unlike", "text": "For man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Grapes of Wrath", "slug": "the-grapes-of-wrath", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-grapes-of-wrath" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Grapes_of_Wrath#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:59" }, { "id": "c9cdc1e3-6846-4627-951a-bafe709a4eea", "slug": "as-soon-as-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace/as-soon-as-man", "text": "As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Václav Havel", "slug": "vaclav-havel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel" }, "book": { "title": "Disturbing the Peace", "slug": "disturbing-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel#Disturbing_the_Peace_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:55" }, { "id": "c7344b01-cc83-4960-9101-baec0b49ca0f", "slug": "if-the-world", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace/if-the-world", "text": "If the world is to change for the better it must start with a change in human consciousness, in the very humanness of modern man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Václav Havel", "slug": "vaclav-havel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel" }, "book": { "title": "Disturbing the Peace", "slug": "disturbing-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 11, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel#Disturbing_the_Peace_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:55" }, { "id": "9d526f4c-2129-40ed-b5d8-06ea69574a5f", "slug": "the-most-important", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace/the-most-important", "text": "The most important thing is that man should be the measure of all structures, including economic structures, and not that man be made to measure for those structures. The most important thing is not to lose sight of personal relationships — i.e., the relationships between man and his co-workers, between subordinates and their superiors, between man and his work, between this work and its consequences.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Václav Havel", "slug": "vaclav-havel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel" }, "book": { "title": "Disturbing the Peace", "slug": "disturbing-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 13, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel#Disturbing_the_Peace_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:55" }, { "id": "5d28e3e1-9e03-4a18-ac9f-b2581b1d3498", "slug": "modern-man-must", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace/modern-man-must", "text": "Modern man must descend the spiral of his own absurdity to the lowest point; only then can he look beyond it. It is obviously impossible to get around it, jump over it, or simply avoid it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Václav Havel", "slug": "vaclav-havel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel" }, "book": { "title": "Disturbing the Peace", "slug": "disturbing-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/vaclav-havel/disturbing-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "absurdity", "slug": "absurdity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/absurdity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel#Disturbing_the_Peace_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:55" }, { "id": "08df6af2-d23d-45a2-a17e-7efd16b2c1e8", "slug": "the-power-to-become", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace/the-power-to-become", "text": "The power to become habituated to his surroundings is a marked characteristic of mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Maynard Keynes", "slug": "john-maynard-keynes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes" }, "book": { "title": "The Economic Consequences of the Peace", "slug": "the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-maynard-keynes/the-economic-consequences-of-the-peace" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 3, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes#The_Economic_Consequences_of_the_Peace_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:53" }, { "id": "df3c553a-ed84-4db0-9796-b00623a199e4", "slug": "we-all-share", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wangari-maathai/the-challenge-for-africa/we-all-share", "text": "We all share one planet and are one humanity; there is no escaping this reality.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Wangari Maathai", "slug": "wangari-maathai", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wangari-maathai" }, "book": { "title": "The Challenge for Africa", "slug": "the-challenge-for-africa", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/wangari-maathai/the-challenge-for-africa" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai#The_Challenge_for_Africa_(2009)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:50" }, { "id": "95150da1-886f-4003-8c69-c6a4adb4b70b", "slug": "man-what-is-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged/man-what-is-man", "text": "\"Man? What is man? He's just a collection of chemicals with delusions of grandeur.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "Atlas Shrugged", "slug": "atlas-shrugged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/atlas-shrugged" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 131, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#Chapter_Six:_The_Non-Commercial", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:50" }, { "id": "6d285a8a-3149-4c2b-a579-49a10aa5cb84", "slug": "we-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd/we-do-not", "text": "We do not need to be able to say what “human nature” is in order to be able to say that some training is “against human nature.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Paul Goodman", "slug": "paul-goodman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman" }, "book": { "title": "Growing Up Absurd", "slug": "growing-up-absurd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/paul-goodman/growing-up-absurd" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 6, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Goodman#Growing_Up_Absurd_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:40" }, { "id": "0b1e9b66-f9ed-4e5b-abcb-1f3ed867c19c", "slug": "all-war-presupposes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war/all-war-presupposes", "text": "All war presupposes human weakness and seeks to exploit it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl von Clausewitz", "slug": "carl-von-clausewitz", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz" }, "book": { "title": "On War", "slug": "on-war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-von-clausewitz/on-war" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "war", "slug": "war", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz#Book_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:37" }, { "id": "75e165ec-6a27-41a9-918c-6c90835534ff", "slug": "i-will-tell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-golding/pincher-martin/i-will-tell", "text": "I will tell you what man is. He is a freak, an ejected foetus robbed of his natural development, thrown out into the world with a naked covering of parchment, with too little room for his teeth and a soft bulging skull like a bubble. But nature stirs a pudding there...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Golding", "slug": "william-golding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-golding" }, "book": { "title": "Pincher Martin", "slug": "pincher-martin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-golding/pincher-martin" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 190, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Golding#Pincher_Martin_(1956)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:18" }, { "id": "b676760c-ecba-4fc1-82df-dc31f516d06a", "slug": "the-organizations-of-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-cheever/the-journals-of-john-cheever/the-organizations-of-men", "text": "The organizations of men, like men themselves, seem subject to deafness, nearsightedness, lameness, and involuntary cruelty. We seem tragically unable to help one another, to understand one another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Cheever", "slug": "john-cheever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-cheever" }, "book": { "title": "The Journals of John Cheever", "slug": "the-journals-of-john-cheever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-cheever/the-journals-of-john-cheever" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Cheever#The_Journals_of_John_Cheever_(1991)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:17" }, { "id": "fe65e0a9-b392-4b7d-aefa-55bc4e64e5f5", "slug": "the-attempt-to-impose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-burgess/a-clockwork-orange/the-attempt-to-impose", "text": "\"The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation, against this I raise my sword-pen.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Anthony Burgess", "slug": "anthony-burgess", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-burgess" }, "book": { "title": "A Clockwork Orange", "slug": "a-clockwork-orange", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/anthony-burgess/a-clockwork-orange" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange#Mr._Alexander", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:15" }, { "id": "6bbde73a-486e-4dab-b254-634625c198a9", "slug": "yossarian-was-cold", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/catch-22/yossarian-was-cold", "text": "\"Yossarian was cold, too, and shivering uncontrollably.... It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage. That was Snowden's secret. Ripeness was all.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Heller", "slug": "joseph-heller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller" }, "book": { "title": "Catch-22", "slug": "catch-22", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-heller/catch-22" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Heller#Catch-22_(1961)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:11" }, { "id": "12cf2282-8177-4862-b3ff-457c241b7d55", "slug": "properly-speaking-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/properly-speaking-man", "text": "Properly speaking, man inhabits only his head and his heart. All other places are vainly before his eyes, at his sides, and under his feet: he himself is not there at all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:09" }, { "id": "90f9b4c8-ccdd-4f97-a336-4d009d44759f", "slug": "man-loves-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/man-loves-what", "text": "Man loves what is small; and he loves what is big, through the same weakness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:08" }, { "id": "d6f5b9de-89e7-41c0-a58a-d7210f19e597", "slug": "we-are-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert/we-are-all", "text": "We are all old children, more or less serious, more or less filled with ourselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Joubert", "slug": "joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert" }, "book": { "title": "The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert", "slug": "the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-joubert/the-notebooks-of-joseph-joubert" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert#The_Notebooks_of_Joseph_Joubert_(1883)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:07" }, { "id": "e2e1aa48-9bea-4b59-b868-ac09dc6d7ed5", "slug": "now-back-to-malory", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights/now-back-to-malory", "text": "Now back to Malory.[…] As I go along, I am constantly jiggled by the arrant nonsense of a great deal of the material. A great deal of it makes no sense at all. Two thirds of it is the vain dreaming of children talking in the dark. And then when you are about to throw it out in disgust, you remember the Congressional Record or the Sacco and Vanzetti case or 'preventive war' or our national political platforms, or racial problems that can't be settled reasonably or domestic relations, or beatniks, and it is borne in on you that the world operates on nonsense — that it is a large part of the pattern and that knight errantry is no more crazy than our present-day group thinking, and activity. That is the way humans are. If you inspected them and their activities in the glass of reason, you would drown the whole lot.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights", "slug": "the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-acts-of-king-arthur-and-his-noble-knights" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Acts_of_King_Arthur_and_His_Noble_Knights_(1976)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:05" }, { "id": "9d9fe77e-8882-4707-91e7-ff482e13e249", "slug": "he-doesnt-belong", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america/he-doesnt-belong", "text": "He doesn't belong to a race clever enough to split the atom but not clever enough to live at peace with itself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "Travels with Charley in Search of America", "slug": "travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/travels-with-charley-in-search-of-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "peace", "slug": "peace", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Travels_With_Charley:_In_Search_of_America_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:04" }, { "id": "18b516cc-aedb-44cc-9543-0fe814b23468", "slug": "good-god-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent/good-god-what", "text": "Good God, what a mess of draggle-tail impulses a man is — and a woman too, I guess.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Winter of Our Discontent", "slug": "the-winter-of-our-discontent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Part_Two", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:03" }, { "id": "fb1efec1-15da-4c55-890b-940978c7c7e6", "slug": "no-man-really", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent/no-man-really", "text": "No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Winter of Our Discontent", "slug": "the-winter-of-our-discontent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Part_One", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:02" }, { "id": "f8447b71-d198-4628-ac03-d980e0522dd9", "slug": "does-anyone-ever", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent/does-anyone-ever", "text": "Does anyone ever know even the outer fringe of another? What are you like in there? Mary — do you hear? Who are you in there?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Winter of Our Discontent", "slug": "the-winter-of-our-discontent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Part_One", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:02" }, { "id": "3180c489-5ee0-4ca0-a3f4-2236dcbe4f04", "slug": "what-a-frightening", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent/what-a-frightening", "text": "What a frightening thing is the human, a mass of gauges and dials and registers, and we can read only a few and those perhaps not accurately.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Winter of Our Discontent", "slug": "the-winter-of-our-discontent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-winter-of-our-discontent" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#Part_One", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:02" }, { "id": "e1b3ee7f-abe6-4751-99a7-3ccc850be995", "slug": "and-i-feel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden/and-i-feel", "text": "And I feel that I am a man. And I feel that a man is a very important thing — maybe more important than a star. This is not theology. I have no bent toward gods. But I have new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed — because Thou mayest.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "East of Eden", "slug": "east-of-eden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/east-of-eden" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 302, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)#Part_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:45:00" }, { "id": "f67dbed6-e347-4cb7-b33e-89488cdea766", "slug": "we-are-no-better", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-log-from-the-sea-of-cortez/we-are-no-better", "text": "We are no better than the animals; in fact in a lot of ways we aren't as good.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Log from the Sea of Cortez", "slug": "the-log-from-the-sea-of-cortez", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-log-from-the-sea-of-cortez" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Log_from_the_Sea_of_Cortez_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:59" }, { "id": "f6a16d8d-ae3f-4d12-ab4b-db96dbd8914c", "slug": "for-it-is-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/for-it-is-said", "text": "For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Pearl", "slug": "the-pearl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Pearl_(1947)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:58" }, { "id": "902fddc1-92da-45cc-baa7-d3a7bb1be457", "slug": "for-every-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl/for-every-man", "text": "For every man in the world functions to the best of his ability, and no one does less than his best, no matter what he may think about it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Steinbeck", "slug": "john-steinbeck", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck" }, "book": { "title": "The Pearl", "slug": "the-pearl", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-steinbeck/the-pearl" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Steinbeck#The_Pearl_(1947)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:58" }, { "id": "ab811cd1-02d7-42e8-a640-af3c029beacd", "slug": "some-people-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/how-the-mind-works/some-people-think", "text": "Some people think that evolutionary psychology claims to have discovered that human nature is selfish and wicked. But they are flattering the researchers and anyone who would claim to have discovered the opposite. No one needs a scientist to measure whether humans are prone to knavery. The question has been answered in the history books, the newspapers, the ethnographic record, and the letters to Ann Landers. But people treat it like an open question, as if someday science might discover that it's all a bad dream and we will wake up to find that it is human nature to love one another.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Steven Pinker", "slug": "steven-pinker", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker" }, "book": { "title": "How the Mind Works", "slug": "how-the-mind-works", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-pinker/how-the-mind-works" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 517, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evolution", "slug": "evolution", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evolution" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker#How_the_Mind_Works_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:49" }, { "id": "dc0524b8-4d44-40a9-b69f-2adb7e6d3f4a", "slug": "the-cages-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze/the-cages-are", "text": "“The cages are ready in case any of the enemies are captured.”\n\n“You mean us?”\n\n“Yes. Enemies.” Muller’s eyes glittered with sudden paranoid fury; it was alarming how easily he slipped from rational discourse to that cold blaze. “Homo sapiens. The most dangerous, the most ruthless, the most despicable beast in the universe!”\n\n“You say it as if you believe it.”\n\n“I do.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Silverberg", "slug": "robert-silverberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg" }, "book": { "title": "The Man In The Maze", "slug": "the-man-in-the-maze", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 118, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Silverberg#The_Man_in_the_Maze_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:39" }, { "id": "afc751ce-e82a-45bd-8a6c-07d6a6635490", "slug": "stand-near-me-and", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze/stand-near-me-and", "text": "Stand near me and you get sick. Why? It reminds you that you’re an animal too, because you get a full dose of me. So we go round and round in our endless feedback. You hate me because you learn things about your own soul by getting near me. And I hate you because you must draw back from me. What I am, you see, is a plague carrier, and the plague I carry is the truth. My message is that it’s a lucky thing for humanity that we’re shut up each in his own skull. Because if we had even a little drop of telepathy, even the blurry nonverbal thing I’ve got, we’d be unable to stand each other. Human society would be impossible.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Silverberg", "slug": "robert-silverberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg" }, "book": { "title": "The Man In The Maze", "slug": "the-man-in-the-maze", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 120, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Silverberg#The_Man_in_the_Maze_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:39" }, { "id": "26a1f809-8c59-4a90-8517-ac4102723858", "slug": "i-know-it-stinks", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze/i-know-it-stinks", "text": "“I know it stinks. The whole universe stinks, sometimes. Haven’t you discovered that yet?”\n\n“It doesn’t have to stink!” Rawlins said sharply, his voice rising. “Is that the lesson you’ve learned in all those years? The universe doesn’t stink. Man stinks! And he does it by voluntary choice because he’d rather stink than smell sweet! We don’t have to lie. We don’t have to cheat. We could opt for honor and decency and—” Rawlins stopped abruptly. In a different tone he said, “I sound young as hell to you, don’t I, Charles?”\n\n“You’re entitled to make mistakes,” Boardman said. “That’s what being young is for.”\n\n“You genuinely believe and know that there’s a cosmic malevolence in the workings of the universe?”\n\nBoardman touched the tips of his thick, short fingers together. “I wouldn’t put it that way. There’s no personal power of darkness running things, any more than there’s a personal power of good. The universe is a big impersonal machine. As it functions it tends to put stress on some of its minor parts, and those parts wear out, and the universe doesn’t give a damn about that, because it can generate replacements. There’s nothing immoral about wearing out parts, but you have to admit that from the point of view of the part under stress it’s a stinking deal.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert Silverberg", "slug": "robert-silverberg", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg" }, "book": { "title": "The Man In The Maze", "slug": "the-man-in-the-maze", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-silverberg/the-man-in-the-maze" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 72, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Silverberg#The_Man_in_the_Maze_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:39" }, { "id": "bf4c720c-3906-4f59-b095-cc16b8709a6e", "slug": "man-only-plays", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man/man-only-plays", "text": "Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Friedrich Schiller", "slug": "friedrich-schiller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller" }, "book": { "title": "On the Aesthetic Education of Man", "slug": "on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "play", "slug": "play", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/play" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller#On_the_Aesthetic_Education_of_Man_(1794)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:35" }, { "id": "4b607c8b-f95c-468e-8d73-e315f40e9ad7", "slug": "when-man-is-raised", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man/when-man-is-raised", "text": "When man is raised from his slumber in the senses, he feels that he is a man, he surveys his surroundings, and finds that he is in a state. He was introduced into this state, by the power of circumstances, before he could freely select his own position. But as a moral being he cannot possibly rest satisfied with a political condition forced upon him by necessity, and only calculated for that condition; and it would be unfortunate if this did satisfy him. In many cases man shakes off this blind law of necessity, by his free spontaneous action, of which among many others we have an instance, in his ennobling by beauty and suppressing by moral influence the powerful impulse implanted in him by nature in the passion of love.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Friedrich Schiller", "slug": "friedrich-schiller", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller" }, "book": { "title": "On the Aesthetic Education of Man", "slug": "on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/friedrich-schiller/on-the-aesthetic-education-of-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller#On_the_Aesthetic_Education_of_Man_(1794)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:35" }, { "id": "6a6239da-42db-4c41-b9dc-961ca3b12ef0", "slug": "i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-jay-gould/eight-little-piggies/i-am-not", "text": "I am not […] asserting that humans are either genial or aggressive by inborn biological necessity. Obviously, both kindness and violence lie within the bounds of our nature because we perpetrate both, in spades. I only advance a structural claim that social stability rules nearly all the time and must be based on an overwhelmingly predominant (but tragically ignored) frequency of genial acts, and that geniality is therefore our usual and preferred response nearly all the time. […] [T]he center of human nature is rooted in ten thousand ordinary acts of kindness that define our days.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Stephen Jay Gould", "slug": "stephen-jay-gould", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-jay-gould" }, "book": { "title": "Eight Little Piggies", "slug": "eight-little-piggies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-jay-gould/eight-little-piggies" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 282, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#Eight_Little_Piggies_(1993)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:34" }, { "id": "e2af1ed7-ae53-4313-b955-6c73d46ebba7", "slug": "of-course-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rabindranath-tagore/sadhana/of-course-man", "text": "Of course man is useful to man, because his body is a marvellous machine and his mind an organ of wonderful efficiency. But he is a spirit as well, and this spirit is truly known only by love. When we define a man by the market value of the service we can expect of him, we know him imperfectly. With this limited knowledge of him it becomes easy for us to be unjust to him and to entertain feelings of triumphant self-congratulation when, on account of some cruel advantage on our side, we can get out of him much more than we have paid for. But when we know him as a spirit we know him as our own. We at once feel that cruelty to him is cruelty to ourselves, to make him small is stealing from our own humanity...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Rabindranath Tagore", "slug": "rabindranath-tagore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rabindranath-tagore" }, "book": { "title": "Sadhana", "slug": "sadhana", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/rabindranath-tagore/sadhana" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "love", "slug": "love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore#S%C4%81dhan%C4%81_:_The_Realisation_of_Life_(1916)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:32" }, { "id": "517dd5b8-ebf1-4708-9514-6b9526b07441", "slug": "he-supposes-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/he-supposes-they", "text": "He supposes they pretty much have the picture. Most people do, in life. People know more than they let on.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Rabbit at Rest", "slug": "rabbit-at-rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Rabbit_at_Rest_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:30" }, { "id": "26c40971-84a8-472d-83c0-46c50625c1e2", "slug": "dr-breit-its", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest/dr-breit-its", "text": "[Dr Breit] \"It's irrational, but so's the human species.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Hoyer Updike", "slug": "john-hoyer-updike", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike" }, "book": { "title": "Rabbit at Rest", "slug": "rabbit-at-rest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-hoyer-updike/rabbit-at-rest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike#Rabbit_at_Rest_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:30" }, { "id": "78501b7f-02ac-40d6-9d4d-5ba8fcc60eca", "slug": "i-have-thought", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy/i-have-thought", "text": "I have thought a good deal about trees; I like them. They speak eloquently of the balanced dubiety which I told you was the sceptical attitude. No splendid crown without the strong root that works in the dark, drawing its nourishment among the rocks, the soil, hidden waters, and all the little, burrowing things. A man is like that; his splendours and his fruits are to be seen, to win him love and admiration. But what about the root?\n\nHave you ever seen a bulldozer clearing land? It advances upon a great tree and shoves and pushes inexorably until the tree is down and thrust out of the way, and all of that effort is accompanied by a screaming and wrenching sounds from the tree as the great roots are torn from the ground. It is a particularly distressing kind of death. And when the tree is upturned, the root proves to be as big as the crown.\n\nWhat is the root of man? All sorts of things that nourish his visible part, but the deepest root of all, the tap-root, is that child he once was, of which I spoke to you when I was amusing you with the story of my life. That is the root which goes deepest because it is reaching downward towards the ancestors.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cornish Trilogy", "slug": "the-cornish-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cornish-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "childhood", "slug": "childhood", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/childhood" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornish_Trilogy#The_Rebel_Angels", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:16" }, { "id": "3c2e2aeb-1000-49e5-9c04-da6a5125f7b2", "slug": "i-cannot-remember", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy/i-cannot-remember", "text": "\"I cannot remember a time when I did not take it as understood that everybody has at least two, if not twenty-two, sides to him.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Deptford Trilogy", "slug": "the-deptford-trilogy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-deptford-trilogy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "character", "slug": "character", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Deptford_Trilogy#(1970)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:13" }, { "id": "a410d1db-0a9a-4938-a2e8-2e8771e9de92", "slug": "clarity-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cunning-man/clarity-is-not", "text": "Clarity is not a characteristic of the human spirit.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robertson Davies", "slug": "robertson-davies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies" }, "book": { "title": "The Cunning Man", "slug": "the-cunning-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robertson-davies/the-cunning-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robertson_Davies#The_Cunning_Man_(1994)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:12" }, { "id": "fd4d6828-a1a0-442e-9e29-c69f4a276d7f", "slug": "a-human-being", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love/a-human-being", "text": "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Time Enough For Love", "slug": "time-enough-for-love", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/time-enough-for-love" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Time_Enough_for_Love_(1973)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:44:00" }, { "id": "15befbca-fe0b-4679-8b4b-cab1a91f57b6", "slug": "man-is-what", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers/man-is-what", "text": "Man is what he is, a wild animal with the will to survive, and (so far) the ability, against all competition. Unless one accepts that, anything one says about morals, war, politics—you name it—is nonsense. Correct morals arise from knowing what man is—not what do-gooders and well-meaning old Aunt Nellies would like him to be. The universe will let us know—later—whether or not Man has any \"right\" to expand through it. In the meantime the M.I. will be in there, on the bounce and swinging, on the side of our own race.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Starship Troopers", "slug": "starship-troopers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers#Chapter_12", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:58" }, { "id": "81177bb8-8831-4a55-9d06-c77128814a26", "slug": "correct-morality-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers/correct-morality-can", "text": "Correct morality can only be derived from what man is — not from what do-gooders and well-meaning aunt Nellies would like him to be.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Starship Troopers", "slug": "starship-troopers", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/starship-troopers" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein#Starship_Troopers_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:57" }, { "id": "dbe4fcc8-e8f1-4832-b5f1-632d98cad08f", "slug": "the-element-of-truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/civilization-and-its-discontents/the-element-of-truth", "text": "The element of truth behind all this, which people are so ready to disavow, is that men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness. As a result, their neighbor is for them not only a potential helper or sexual object, but also someone who tempts them to satisfy their aggressiveness on him, to exploit his capacity for work without compensation, to use him sexually without his consent, to seize his possessions, to humiliate him, to cause him pain, to torture and to kill him. Homo homini lupus. Who, in the face of all his experience of life and of history, will have the courage to dispute this assertion?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Sigmund Freud", "slug": "sigmund-freud", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud" }, "book": { "title": "Civilization and its Discontents", "slug": "civilization-and-its-discontents", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/sigmund-freud/civilization-and-its-discontents" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 68, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud#Civilization_and_Its_Discontents_(1929)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:49" }, { "id": "bac62b3d-8fd2-4194-9d16-d03604265536", "slug": "novelists-when-they", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian/novelists-when-they", "text": "Novelists when they write novels tend to take an almost godlike attitude toward their subject, pretending to a total comprehension of the story, a man's life, which they can therefore recount as God Himself might, nothing standing between them and the naked truth, the entire story meaningful in every detail. I am as little able to do this as the novelist is, even though my story is more important to me than any novelist's is to him — for this is my story; it is the story of a man, not of an invented, or possible, or idealized, or otherwise absent figure, but of a unique being of flesh and blood. Yet, what a real living human being is made of seems to be less understood today than at any time before, and men — each one of whom represents a unique and valuable experiment on the part of nature — are therefore shot wholesale nowadays. If we were not something more than unique human beings, if each one of us could really be done away with once and for all by a single bullet, story telling would lose all purpose. But every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration. In each individual the spirit has become flesh, in each man the creation suffers, within each one a redeemer is nailed to the cross.\n\nFew people nowadays know what man is. Many sense this ignorance and die the more easily because of it, the same way that I will die more easily once I have completed this story.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hermann Hesse", "slug": "hermann-hesse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse" }, "book": { "title": "Demian", "slug": "demian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse#Demian_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:47" }, { "id": "01870df3-7d23-4f2e-b1e6-a1d0936d7073", "slug": "we-arent-pigs", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian/we-arent-pigs", "text": "We aren't pigs as you seem to think, but human beings. We create gods and struggle with them, and they bless us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Hermann Hesse", "slug": "hermann-hesse", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse" }, "book": { "title": "Demian", "slug": "demian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hermann-hesse/demian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 188, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse#Demian_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:47" }, { "id": "68c02ad1-af98-497f-a1d6-4fd1c3907a99", "slug": "over-periods-of-10-000", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel/over-periods-of-10-000", "text": "Over periods of 10,000 years the distinctions between Western and Eastern and African cultures lose all meaning. Over a time span of 100,000 years we are all Africans. And over a time span of 300 million years we are all amphibians, waddling uncertainly out of dried-up ponds onto the alien and hostile land.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Freeman Dyson", "slug": "freeman-dyson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson" }, "book": { "title": "The Scientist as Rebel", "slug": "the-scientist-as-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/freeman-dyson/the-scientist-as-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson#The_Scientist_As_Rebel_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:12" }, { "id": "e325cf16-23a5-46e4-9b72-0c60c34f758a", "slug": "we-earth-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/we-earth-men", "text": "We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big beautiful things. The only reason we didn’t set up hot-dog stands in the midst of the Egyptian temple of Karnak is because it was out of the way and served no large commercial purpose.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ray Bradbury", "slug": "ray-bradbury", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury" }, "book": { "title": "The Martian Chronicles", "slug": "the-martian-chronicles", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "consumerism", "slug": "consumerism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/consumerism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury#The_Martian_Chronicles_(1950)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:10" }, { "id": "426e16f8-7cb9-4281-9140-de1de7b2a311", "slug": "and-permanently-tempted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/and-yet/and-permanently-tempted", "text": "And, permanently tempted though he was by cynicism and despair, Orwell also believed in the latent possession of these faculties by those we sometimes have the nerve to call “ordinary people.” Here, then, is some of the unpromising bedrock—hardscrabble soil in Scotland, gritty coal mines in Yorkshire, desert landscapes in Africa, soulless slums and bureaucratic offices—combined with the richer soil and loam of ever-renewing nature, and that tiny, irreducible core of the human personality that somehow manages to put up a resistance to deceit and coercion. Out of the endless attrition between them can come such hope as we may reasonably claim to possess.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Christopher Hitchens", "slug": "christopher-hitchens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens" }, "book": { "title": "And Yet", "slug": "and-yet", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-hitchens/and-yet" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hope", "slug": "hope", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens#And_Yet...:_Essays_(2015)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:43:06" }, { "id": "ff82956a-ddba-48cd-8e15-250c8932fd64", "slug": "humanity-is-old", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-killing-machine/humanity-is-old", "text": "“Humanity is old, civilization is new: the mesh of cogs is by no means smooth—and this is as it should be. Never should a man enter a building of glass or metal, or a spaceship, or a submarine, without a small shock of astonishment; never should he avoid an act of passion without a small sense of effort....We of the Institute receive an intensive historical inculcation; we know the men of the past, and we have projected dozens of possible future variations, which, without exception, are repulsive. Man, as he exists now, with all his faults and vices, a thousand gloriously irrational compromises between two thousand sterile absolute—is optimal. Or so it seems to us who are men.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "The Killing Machine", "slug": "the-killing-machine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-killing-machine" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 179, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "civilization", "slug": "civilization", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Killing_Machine_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:57" }, { "id": "b107636a-a135-463d-be46-4371be57f56f", "slug": "human-interactions-stimulated", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/rhialto-the-marvellous/human-interactions-stimulated", "text": "Human interactions, stimulated as they are by disequilibrium, never achieve balance. In even the most favorable transaction, one party—whether he realizes it or not—must always come out the worse.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "Rhialto the Marvellous", "slug": "rhialto-the-marvellous", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/rhialto-the-marvellous" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Rhialto_the_Marvellous_(1984)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:56" }, { "id": "26bb8450-7caa-4735-84ee-608934c6379c", "slug": "i-learned-a-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-languages-of-pao/i-learned-a-great", "text": "“I learned a great deal,” said Beran. “And then I lost all heart for further learning.”\n\nPalafox’s eyes glinted. “Education is not achieved through the heart—it is a systematization of the mental processes.”\n\n“But I am something other than a mental process,” said Beran. “I am a man. I must reckon with the whole of myself.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Vance", "slug": "jack-vance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance" }, "book": { "title": "The Languages of Pao", "slug": "the-languages-of-pao", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/the-languages-of-pao" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 133, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#The_Languages_of_Pao_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:55" }, { "id": "ecbfe79f-3ae2-41ae-8ea6-d32d2334ed2a", "slug": "most-of-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/most-of-the", "text": "Most of the members of the convent were old-fashioned Satanists, like their parents and grandparents before them. They'd been brought up to it and weren't, when you got right down to it, particularly evil. Human beings mostly aren't. They just get carried away by new ideas, like dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in white sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in tie-dye jeans and playing guitars at people. Offer people a new creed with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 26, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Eleven_years_ago", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:52" }, { "id": "9da408b4-a543-4fe0-80c5-d49c67defdb7", "slug": "it-may-help", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/it-may-help", "text": "It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 26, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Eleven_years_ago", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:52" }, { "id": "8a808457-9f40-446c-8b0a-1fa0ffbd291c", "slug": "he-rather-liked", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/he-rather-liked", "text": "He rather liked people. It was a major failing in a demon.\n\nOh, he did his best to make their short lives miserable, because that was his job, but nothing he could think up was half as bad as the stuff they thought up themselves. They seemed to have a talent for it. It was built into the design, somehow. They were born into a world that was against them in a thousand little ways, and then devoted most of their energies to making it worse.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 33, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Eleven_years_ago", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:52" }, { "id": "43ed7bee-e802-4375-bda4-2bf594d4dfcf", "slug": "there-were-people", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/there-were-people", "text": "There were people who called themselves Satanists who made Crowley squirm. It wasn't just the things they did, it was the way they blamed it all on Hell. They'd come up with some stomach-churning idea that no demon could have thought of in a thousand years, some dark and mindless unpleasantness that only a fully-functioning human brain could conceive, then shout \"The Devil Made Me Do It\" and get the sympathy of the court when the whole point was that the Devil hardly ever made anyone do anything. He didn't have to. That was what some humans found hard to understand. Hell wasn't a major reservoir of evil, any more than Heaven, in Crowley's opinion, was a fountain of goodness; they were just sides in the great cosmic chess game. Where you found the real McCoy, the real grace and the real heart-stopping evil, was right inside the human mind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Wednesday", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:52" }, { "id": "2df69415-948a-405f-afb7-5b789b52629b", "slug": "just-when-youd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/just-when-youd", "text": "Just when you'd think they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved. It was this free-will thing, of course. It was a bugger.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "Good Omens", "slug": "good-omens", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 34, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" }, { "name": "free will", "slug": "free-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/free-will" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Good_Omens#Eleven_years_ago", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:52" }, { "id": "f1072a22-85dc-479b-a65d-2dc4aa6936c7", "slug": "the-value-or-worth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/the-value-or-worth", "text": "The Value or WORTH of a man, is as of all other things, his Price; that is to say, so much as would be given for the use of his Power...", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_10", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "4fa2cfa4-6b3b-4053-85c5-e258dd5c44e2", "slug": "but-this-priviledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/but-this-priviledge", "text": "But this priviledge, is allayed by another; and that is, by the priviledge of Absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 20, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_5", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "0285416e-ff0b-44ea-9b23-b53159f75bab", "slug": "and-as-in-other", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan/and-as-in-other", "text": "And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Hobbes", "slug": "thomas-hobbes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes" }, "book": { "title": "Leviathan", "slug": "leviathan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-hobbes/leviathan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 42, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "money", "slug": "money", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Chapter_10", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:47" }, { "id": "fa756235-bcf3-43f0-882f-950440e6cd2f", "slug": "how-embarrassing-to-be-human", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/how-embarrassing-to-be-human", "text": "How embarrassing to be human.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Hocus Pocus", "slug": "hocus-pocus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "shame", "slug": "shame", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/shame" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43" }, { "id": "9cdbfe65-93ac-4936-9469-b417dcccd01f", "slug": "another-flaw-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/another-flaw-in-the", "text": "Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Hocus Pocus", "slug": "hocus-pocus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43" }, { "id": "82872c25-4afd-41d5-8545-29c5f9e2483b", "slug": "i-think-william", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus/i-think-william", "text": "I think William Shakespeare was the wisest human being I ever heard of. To be perfectly frank, though, that's not saying much. We are impossibly conceited animals, and actually dumb as heck. Ask any teacher. You don't even have to ask a teacher. Ask anybody. Dogs and cats are smarter than we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Hocus Pocus", "slug": "hocus-pocus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/hocus-pocus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "pride", "slug": "pride", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pride" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Hocus_Pocus_(1990)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:43" }, { "id": "ed01794b-72e7-4c81-8d3c-d302242eb533", "slug": "i-remembered-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/i-remembered-the", "text": "I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, \"What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?\"It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.This is it:\"Nothing.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pessimism", "slug": "pessimism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pessimism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:37" }, { "id": "a9a43bd0-3400-4fad-bda5-00f47977a707", "slug": "man-is-vile", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/man-is-vile", "text": "Man is vile, and man makes nothing worth making, knows nothing worth knowing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pessimism", "slug": "pessimism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pessimism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:37" }, { "id": "f71b1fce-031d-4551-9a75-3cfd28ecca48", "slug": "i-dont-think", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/i-dont-think", "text": "I don't think he was knowable. I mean, when most people talk about knowing somebody a lot or a little, they're talking about secrets they've been told or haven't been told. They're talking about intimate things, family things, love things ... Dr. Hoenikker had all those things in his life, the way every living person has to, but they weren't the main things with him. ... Dr. Breed keeps telling me the main thing with Dr. Hoenikker was truth. ... I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat's_Cradle#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:36" }, { "id": "b6f9fdd5-33ea-42b5-8625-90b4545714d7", "slug": "tiger-got-to-hunt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle/tiger-got-to-hunt", "text": "Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;\n\nMan got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'\n\nTiger got to sleep, bird got to land;\n\nMan got to tell himself he understand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Cat's Cradle", "slug": "cats-cradle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/cats-cradle" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Cat's_Cradle_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:36" }, { "id": "f38995d2-1d0e-4cee-80a9-d28e74651040", "slug": "the-hell-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan/the-hell-with", "text": "\"The hell with the human race!\" said Beatrice.\n\n\"You're a member of it, you know,\" said Rumfoord.\n\n\"Then I'd like to put in for a transfer to the chimpanzees!\" said Beatrice. \"No chimpanzee husband would stand by while his wife lost all her coconuts.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "The Sirens of Titan", "slug": "the-sirens-of-titan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/the-sirens-of-titan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 52, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#The_Sirens_of_Titan_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:35" }, { "id": "6a2dd546-6b7b-47f0-afaf-47a1cbe95dff", "slug": "all-people-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/mother-night/all-people-are", "text": "\"All people are insane,\" he said. \"They will do anything at any time, and God help anybody who looks for reasons.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Mother Night", "slug": "mother-night", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/mother-night" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Mother_Night_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:35" }, { "id": "d7353406-1d4d-4309-a751-75dd8366066d", "slug": "if-only-it-werent", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano/if-only-it-werent", "text": "\"If only it weren't for the people, the goddamned people,\" said Finnerty, \"always getting tangled up in the machinery. If it weren't for them, earth would be an engineer's paradise.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Kurt Vonnegut", "slug": "kurt-vonnegut", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut" }, "book": { "title": "Player Piano", "slug": "player-piano", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/player-piano" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut#Player_Piano_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:34" }, { "id": "d5ab3a68-c63c-4d79-ae50-35d5ea8a15d5", "slug": "social-science-means", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/social-science-means", "text": "Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 95, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "5c320f8b-e0b0-40fc-bfb1-c85a7a204476", "slug": "you-can-tell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes/you-can-tell", "text": "You can tell how uninteresting a person is by asking him whom he finds interesting.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Nassim Nicholas Taleb", "slug": "nassim-nicholas-taleb", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb" }, "book": { "title": "The Bed of Procrustes", "slug": "the-bed-of-procrustes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/the-bed-of-procrustes" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 28, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#The_Bed_of_Procrustes:_Philosophical_and_Practical_Aphorisms_(2010)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:32" }, { "id": "87f6bf98-9ddd-4510-b718-cb47d7fd9216", "slug": "people-ache-to-believe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea/people-ache-to-believe", "text": "People ache to believe that we human beings are vastly different from all other species — and they are right! We are different. We are the only species that has an extra medium of design preservation and design communication: culture. … We have language, the primary medium of culture... In a few short millennia — a mere instant in biological time — we have already used our new exploration vehicles to transform not only our planet but the very process of design development that created us.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", "slug": "darwins-dangerous-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "culture", "slug": "culture", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/culture" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Darwin's_Dangerous_Idea_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:28" }, { "id": "289786cd-ea1b-4bf7-ae29-cfbdf2ab3217", "slug": "from-what-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea/from-what-can", "text": "From what can \"ought\" be derived. The most compelling answer is this: ethics must be somehow based on an appreciation of human nature — on a sense of what a human being is or might be, and on what a human being might want to have or want to be. If that is naturalism, then naturalism is no fallacy. No one could seriously deny that ethics is responsive to such facts about human nature. We may just disagree about where to look for the most compelling facts about human nature -n novels, in religious texts, in psychological experiments, in biological or anthropological investigations. The fallacy is not naturalism but, rather, any simple-minded attempt to rush from facts to values. In other words, the fallacy is greedy reductionism of values to facts, rather than reductionism considered more circumspectly, as the attempt to unify our world-view so that out ethical principles don't clash irrationally with the way the world is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Daniel Dennett", "slug": "daniel-dennett", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett" }, "book": { "title": "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", "slug": "darwins-dangerous-idea", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-dennett/darwins-dangerous-idea" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "morality", "slug": "morality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/morality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Dennett#Darwin's_Dangerous_Idea_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:28" }, { "id": "4f7f8707-6a73-413e-a168-dfe1ef53a41d", "slug": "among-the-forces", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser/sister-carrie/among-the-forces", "text": "Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason. On the tiger no responsibility rests. We see him aligned by nature with the forces of life — he is born into their keeping and without thought he is protected. We see man far removed from the lairs of the jungles, his innate instincts dulled by too near an approach to free-will, his free-will not sufficiently developed to replace his instincts and afford him perfect guidance. He is becoming too wise to hearken always to instincts and desires; he is still too weak to always prevail against them. As a beast, the forces of life aligned him with them; as a man, he has not yet wholly learned to align himself with the forces. In this intermediate stage he wavers — neither drawn in harmony with nature by his instincts nor yet wisely putting himself into harmony by his own free-will. He is even as a wisp in the wind, moved by every breath of passion, acting now by his will and now by his instincts, erring with one, only to retrieve by the other, falling by one, only to rise by the other — a creature of incalculable variability. We have the consolation of knowing that evolution is ever in action, that the ideal is a light that cannot fail. He will not forever balance thus between good and evil. When this jangle of free-will and instinct shall have been adjusted, when perfect understanding has given the former the power to replace the latter entirely, man will no longer vary. The needle of understanding will yet point steadfast and unwavering to the distant pole of truth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Theodore Dreiser", "slug": "theodore-dreiser", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser" }, "book": { "title": "Sister Carrie", "slug": "sister-carrie", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/theodore-dreiser/sister-carrie" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "free will", "slug": "free-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/free-will" }, { "name": "instinct", "slug": "instinct", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/instinct" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Dreiser#Sister_Carrie_(1900)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:21" }, { "id": "d8cf1258-0076-46f0-a624-5ff000a4b84a", "slug": "life-was-cheap", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-ustinov/dear-me/life-was-cheap", "text": "Life was cheap in the Middle Ages. It has become cheaper since. It is only in specific battles for specific lives that our culture is put to the test, and with it our humanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Peter Ustinov", "slug": "peter-ustinov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-ustinov" }, "book": { "title": "Dear Me", "slug": "dear-me", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-ustinov/dear-me" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Ustinov#Dear_Me_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:18" }, { "id": "a9ef1703-5c73-4a90-ac20-470558402ca0", "slug": "a-man-lives", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain/a-man-lives", "text": "A man lives not only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously, the life of his epoch and his contemporaries.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Mann", "slug": "thomas-mann", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann" }, "book": { "title": "The Magic Mountain", "slug": "the-magic-mountain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann#The_Magic_Mountain_(1924)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:16" }, { "id": "e3c8fa54-71c8-4fe3-9cae-c102e6325340", "slug": "humans-in-order", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn/humans-in-order", "text": "Humans, in order to rise above the animals, had learned how to convert themselves into nothing more than organs or limbs or even disposable fingernails and hair of a larger metaphorical organism.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "Earthborn", "slug": "earthborn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/earthborn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Earthborn_(1995)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:10" }, { "id": "b796fd65-b42c-4861-b2e6-6dce3a9cd5fa", "slug": "wouldnt-it-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-memory-of-earth/wouldnt-it-have", "text": "Wouldn't it have been better to change humanity so it no longer desired to destroy itself?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Orson Scott Card", "slug": "orson-scott-card", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card" }, "book": { "title": "The Memory Of Earth", "slug": "the-memory-of-earth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/the-memory-of-earth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#The_Memory_Of_Earth_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:09" }, { "id": "6de57f53-c845-4856-a0ee-3e8d7be74c95", "slug": "i-have-always", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke/an-essay-concerning-human-understanding/i-have-always", "text": "I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Locke", "slug": "john-locke", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke" }, "book": { "title": "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding", "slug": "an-essay-concerning-human-understanding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-locke/an-essay-concerning-human-understanding" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "thinking", "slug": "thinking", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Locke#An_Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1689)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:07" }, { "id": "e35435aa-df1d-4e65-965c-d888206237d7", "slug": "to-people-off", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house/to-people-off", "text": "To people off alone, as we were, there is something stirring about finding evidences of human labour and care in the soil of an empty country. It comes to you as a sort of message, makes you feel differently about the ground you walk over every day.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "The Professor's House", "slug": "the-professors-house", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "work", "slug": "work", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#The_Professor's_House_(1925)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "66d6bd7e-fc48-4302-9cec-6258229cba39", "slug": "the-heart-of-another", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house/the-heart-of-another", "text": "The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Willa Cather", "slug": "willa-cather", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather" }, "book": { "title": "The Professor's House", "slug": "the-professors-house", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/willa-cather/the-professors-house" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather#The_Professor's_House_(1925)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:42:03" }, { "id": "982c0468-7159-4405-b961-1b667f512853", "slug": "this-is-just", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/haunted/this-is-just", "text": "This is just what human beings do-turn objects into people, people into objects. Back and forth. Tit for tat.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Haunted", "slug": "haunted", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/haunted" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chuck_Palahniuk#Haunted_(2005)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:59" }, { "id": "176e0f98-f556-4a05-8f8f-a8196c67bfc7", "slug": "centuries-ago-sailors", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/lullaby/centuries-ago-sailors", "text": "Centuries ago, sailors on long voyages used to leave a pair of pigs on every deserted island. Or they'd leave a pair of goats. Either way, on any future visit, the island would be a source of meat. These islands, they were pristine. These were home to breeds of birds with no natural predators. Breeds of birds that lived nowhere else on earth. The plants there, without enemies they evolved without thorns or poisons. Without predators and enemies, these islands, they were paradise. The sailors, the next time they visited these islands, the only things still there would be herds of goats or pigs. .... Does this remind you of anything? Maybe the ol' Adam and Eve story? .... You ever wonder when God's coming back with a lot of barbecue sauce?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Chuck Palahniuk", "slug": "chuck-palahniuk", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk" }, "book": { "title": "Lullaby", "slug": "lullaby", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/lullaby" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "ecology", "slug": "ecology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ecology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chuck_Palahniuk#Lullaby_(2002)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:58" }, { "id": "d9414340-d26e-46d8-a73e-aa480498bfd4", "slug": "men-can-coexist", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques/men-can-coexist", "text": "Men can coexist on condition that they recognize each other as being all equally, though differently, human, but they can also coexist by denying each other a comparable degree of humanity, and thus establishing a system of subordination.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Claude Lévi-Strauss", "slug": "claude-levi-strauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss" }, "book": { "title": "Tristes Tropiques", "slug": "tristes-tropiques", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 149, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "equality", "slug": "equality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss#Tristes_Tropiques_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:57" }, { "id": "78cd7dc0-e828-4007-8471-30bf0da54980", "slug": "natural-man-did", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques/natural-man-did", "text": "Natural man did not precede society, nor is he outside it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Claude Lévi-Strauss", "slug": "claude-levi-strauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss" }, "book": { "title": "Tristes Tropiques", "slug": "tristes-tropiques", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 392, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss#Tristes_Tropiques_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:57" }, { "id": "13e3ad76-4fbb-49aa-ad9b-27a5bec217e3", "slug": "once-men-begin", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques/once-men-begin", "text": "Once men begin to feel cramped in their geographical, social and mental habitat, they are in danger of being tempted by the simple solution of denying one section of the species the right to be considered as human. This allows the rest a little elbow-room for a few more decades.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Claude Lévi-Strauss", "slug": "claude-levi-strauss", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss" }, "book": { "title": "Tristes Tropiques", "slug": "tristes-tropiques", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/claude-levi-strauss/tristes-tropiques" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 149, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "racism", "slug": "racism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/racism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss#Tristes_Tropiques_(1955)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:57" }, { "id": "1937dea6-a019-45ad-859e-180cb58b57f4", "slug": "man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness/man-is-the", "text": "Man is the only living species that has the power to act as his own destroyer—and that is the way he has acted through most of his history.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ayn Rand", "slug": "ayn-rand", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand" }, "book": { "title": "The Virtue of Selfishness", "slug": "the-virtue-of-selfishness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ayn-rand/the-virtue-of-selfishness" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" }, { "name": "violence", "slug": "violence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/violence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand#The_Virtue_of_Selfishness_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:51" }, { "id": "c365f7a0-eac8-4bf3-8bdb-9b0e5cf6217a", "slug": "here-was-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest/here-was-the", "text": "Here was the astounding fact: the race did go forward; the race did achieve; and in every way the race grew better. Progress through irrational and astounding blunders, whose outrageousness bedwarfed the wildest cliches of romance, was what Kennaston found everywhere. All this, then, also was foreplanned, just as all happenings at Storisende had been, in his puny romance; and the puppets, here to, moved as they thought of their own volition, but really in order to serve a denouement in which many of them had not any personal part or interest....", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "James Branch Cabell", "slug": "james-branch-cabell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell" }, "book": { "title": "The Cream of the Jest", "slug": "the-cream-of-the-jest", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-branch-cabell/the-cream-of-the-jest" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell#The_Cream_of_the_Jest_(1917)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:49" }, { "id": "41165a51-a102-407f-8b0b-3bfc4c63d7fa", "slug": "we-live-together", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/the-doors-of-perception/we-live-together", "text": "We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies — all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Aldous Huxley", "slug": "aldous-huxley", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley" }, "book": { "title": "The Doors of Perception", "slug": "the-doors-of-perception", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/aldous-huxley/the-doors-of-perception" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley#The_Doors_of_Perception_(1954)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:36" }, { "id": "c8605579-7a63-4d0b-ae1b-47e15599413a", "slug": "mankind-is-like", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/some-of-the-dharma/mankind-is-like", "text": "Mankind is like dogs, not gods — as long as you don't get mad they'll bite you — but stay mad and you'll never be bitten. Dogs don't respect humility and sorrow.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Kerouac", "slug": "jack-kerouac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac" }, "book": { "title": "Some of the Dharma", "slug": "some-of-the-dharma", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/some-of-the-dharma" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "humility", "slug": "humility", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humility" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac#Some_of_the_Dharma_(1997)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:33" }, { "id": "c80c0701-a3ac-47c2-a7a3-49f8debc528c", "slug": "i-feel-guilty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/big-sur/i-feel-guilty", "text": "I feel guilty for being a member of the human race.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jack Kerouac", "slug": "jack-kerouac", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac" }, "book": { "title": "Big Sur", "slug": "big-sur", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-kerouac/big-sur" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "guilt", "slug": "guilt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/guilt" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac#Big_Sur_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:32" }, { "id": "fbf8e5a0-3fc1-41d5-ad52-7cc1d3733b00", "slug": "this-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-campbell/the-power-of-myth/this-is-the", "text": "This is the threat to our lives. We all face it. We all operate in our society in relation to a system. Now is the system going to eat you up and relieve you of your humanity or are you going to be able to use the system to human purposes? … If the person doesn't listen to the demands of his own spiritual and heart life and insists on a certain program, you're going to have a schizophrenic crack-up. The person has put himself off center. He has aligned himself with a programmatic life and it's not the one the body's interested in at all. And the world's full of people who have stopped listening to themselves.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Campbell", "slug": "joseph-campbell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-campbell" }, "book": { "title": "The Power of Myth", "slug": "the-power-of-myth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-campbell/the-power-of-myth" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" }, { "name": "spirituality", "slug": "spirituality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/spirituality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell#The_Power_of_Myth_(1988)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:25" }, { "id": "916dfeba-82c8-4567-bde6-5fb1e68bb846", "slug": "i-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life/i-do-not", "text": "I do not believe in God, because I believe in man. Whatever his mistakes, man has for thousands of years past been working to undo the botched job your God has made. (p. 207)", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emma Goldman", "slug": "emma-goldman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman" }, "book": { "title": "Living My Life", "slug": "living-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emma-goldman/living-my-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "atheism", "slug": "atheism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/atheism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman#Living_My_Life_(1931)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:23" }, { "id": "6a3b57ec-33df-4fc7-9f12-18d932c25998", "slug": "mr-chairman-almost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice/mr-chairman-almost", "text": "Mr. Chairman, almost everything about a human creature is ridiculous, except its ability to suffer bravely and die gallantly for whatever it loves and believes in. The validity of that belief, the appropriateness of that love, is irrelevant; it is the bravery and the gallantry that count. These are uniquely human qualities, independent of mankind’s creator, who has none of them himself—as I know, since he is my brother...and I lack them, too.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Job: A Comedy of Justice", "slug": "job-a-comedy-of-justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/job-a-comedy-of-justice" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 428, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:21" }, { "id": "a91f9a99-104b-4ed7-a59f-a092f6233c68", "slug": "we-are-all-in", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian/we-are-all-in", "text": "We are all in the habit of censuring the great, as if we were popular playwrights, when in fact ordinary folk are quite as devious and as willful and as desperate to survive (if not prevail) as are thee great; particularly philosophers.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "Julian", "slug": "julian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hypocrisy", "slug": "hypocrisy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hypocrisy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#Julian_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:18" }, { "id": "55174552-4cb1-4b8b-9de3-ba97a63c51ff", "slug": "they-say-to-know", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian/they-say-to-know", "text": "They say to know oneself is to know all there is that is human. But of course no one can ever know himself. Nothing human is finally calculable; even to ourselves we are strange.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "Julian", "slug": "julian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "self-knowledge", "slug": "self-knowledge", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/self-knowledge" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#Julian_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:18" }, { "id": "0d89effe-38c5-4378-b5c1-b6a0e005eb8b", "slug": "we-are-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian/we-are-all", "text": "We are all so simple at heart that we become unfathomable to one another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Gore Vidal", "slug": "gore-vidal", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal" }, "book": { "title": "Julian", "slug": "julian", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gore-vidal/julian" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal#Julian_(1964)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:18" }, { "id": "8dee9e12-d5e6-4f8c-ab19-1020b8b3956e", "slug": "it-was-a-basic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen/it-was-a-basic", "text": "It was a basic Confucian principle that \"it is man who makes truth great, not truth which makes man great.\" For this reason, \"humanness\" or \"human-heartedness\" (jen) was always felt to be superior to \"righteousness\" (i), since man himself is greater than any idea which he may invent. There are times when men's passions are much more trustworthy than their principles.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alan W. Watts", "slug": "alan-w-watts", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts" }, "book": { "title": "The Way of Zen", "slug": "the-way-of-zen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alan-w-watts/the-way-of-zen" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 29, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Watts#The_Way_of_Zen_(1957)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:12" }, { "id": "05cc7122-c322-4cd2-841d-6a8df22dab85", "slug": "i-can-imagine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-book-of-merlyn/i-can-imagine", "text": "“I can imagine nothing more terrifying than an Eternity filled with men who were all the same. The only thing which has made life bearable…has been the diversity of creatures on the surface of the globe.”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "T. H. White", "slug": "t-h-white", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white" }, "book": { "title": "The Book of Merlyn", "slug": "the-book-of-merlyn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/t-h-white/the-book-of-merlyn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "eternity", "slug": "eternity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/eternity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._H._White#The_Book_of_Merlyn_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:12" }, { "id": "1ec23430-2a65-4d5c-a74f-e7577909dc94", "slug": "we-hypostasize-information", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/we-hypostasize-information", "text": "We hypostasize information into objects. Rearrangement of objects is change in the content of the information; the message has changed. This is a language which we have lost the ability to read. We ourselves are a part of this language; changes in us are changes in the content of the information. We ourselves are information-rich; information enters us, is processed and is then projected outwards once more, now in an altered form. We are not aware that we are doing this, that in fact this is all we are doing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Philip K. Dick", "slug": "philip-k-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick" }, "book": { "title": "Valis", "slug": "valis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "language", "slug": "language", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick#VALIS_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:07" }, { "id": "e73dea5b-2172-4541-8607-b273e194b985", "slug": "it-is-a-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-meaning-of-it-all/it-is-a-great", "text": "It is a great adventure to contemplate the universe, beyond man, to contemplate what it would be like without man, as it was in a great part of its long history and as it is in a great majority of places. When this objective view is finally attained, and the mystery and majesty of matter are fully appreciated, to then turn the objective eye back on man viewed as matter, to view life as part of this universal mystery of greatest depth, is to sense an experience which is very rare, and very exciting. It usually ends in laughter and a delight in the futility of trying to understand what this atom in the universe is, this thing — atoms with curiosity — that looks at itself and wonders why it wonders. Well, these scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty, but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man's struggle for good and evil seems inadequate.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Richard P. Feynman", "slug": "richard-p-feynman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman" }, "book": { "title": "The Meaning of It All", "slug": "the-meaning-of-it-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-p-feynman/the-meaning-of-it-all" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman#The_Meaning_of_It_All_(1999)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:41:01" }, { "id": "dd88482c-2f27-42da-af94-63a606f8fcd4", "slug": "human-resources-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/tomorrow-is-now/human-resources-are", "text": "Human resources are the most valuable assets the world has. They are all needed desperately.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Eleanor Roosevelt", "slug": "eleanor-roosevelt", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt" }, "book": { "title": "Tomorrow Is Now", "slug": "tomorrow-is-now", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/eleanor-roosevelt/tomorrow-is-now" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 71, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt#Tomorrow_Is_Now_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:58" }, { "id": "e48c193a-0fb1-4ebd-86f4-28472c4d2431", "slug": "the-machine-cannot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/the-machine-cannot", "text": "The machine cannot anticipate every problem of importance to humans. It is the difference between serial bits and an unbroken continuum. We have the one; machines are confined to the other.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "God Emperor of Dune", "slug": "god-emperor-of-dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "artificial intelligence", "slug": "artificial-intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/artificial-intelligence" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#God_Emperor_of_Dune_(1981)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:53" }, { "id": "788582f0-3bd3-4c8f-819e-e0903dc5dbaf", "slug": "no-matter-how", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/no-matter-how", "text": "No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individuals.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune Messiah", "slug": "dune-messiah", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:51" }, { "id": "f9e0bf7b-c0b0-4c80-aa72-586a15280e40", "slug": "youve-heard-of-animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune/youve-heard-of-animals", "text": "\"You've heard of animals chewing off a leg to escape a trap? There's an animal kind of trick. A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Frank Herbert", "slug": "frank-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "Dune", "slug": "dune", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Book_1:_Dune", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:48" }, { "id": "095913b8-14ff-4268-a105-b072e1ca5954", "slug": "my-failures-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/my-failures-are", "text": "My failures are so much more numerous than my successes that I am beginning to wonder if full grokking will show that I am on the wrong track entirely — that this race must be split up, hating each other, fighting each other, constantly unhappy and at war even with their own individual selves… simply to have that weeding out that every race must have.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "success and failure", "slug": "success-and-failure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/success-and-failure" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Part_Five_:_His_Happy_Destiny", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:44" }, { "id": "0250722d-3b52-4bd0-b8b1-51558013b055", "slug": "man-as-a-social", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/man-as-a-social", "text": "Man, as a social animal, can no more escape government than the individual can escape bondage to his bowels.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Miscellaneous_quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:44" }, { "id": "09ed903a-4d16-4b4a-be67-81f9ad036a25", "slug": "my-dear-i-used", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land/my-dear-i-used", "text": "My dear, I used to think I was serving humanity... and I pleasured in the thought. Then I discovered that humanity does not want to be served; on the contrary it resents any attempt to serve it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert A. Heinlein", "slug": "robert-a-heinlein", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein" }, "book": { "title": "Stranger in a Strange Land", "slug": "stranger-in-a-strange-land", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-a-heinlein/stranger-in-a-strange-land" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "helping others", "slug": "helping-others", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/helping-others" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land#Part_Two_:_His_Preposterous_Heritage", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:43" }, { "id": "4a4951b0-f11a-4d2e-bbf6-1facaab558d7", "slug": "seat-thyself-sultanically", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/seat-thyself-sultanically", "text": "Seat thyself sultanically among the moons of Saturn, and take high abstracted man alone; and he seems a wonder, a grandeur, and a woe. But from the same point, take mankind in mass, and for the most part, they seem a mob of unnecessary duplicates, both contemporary and hereditary.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 518, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Carpenter_(107)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:42" }, { "id": "b1ff4cc4-cfd8-414f-83ef-d8e17baa2392", "slug": "there-is-no-folly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/there-is-no-folly", "text": "There is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Herman Melville", "slug": "herman-melville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville" }, "book": { "title": "Moby-Dick", "slug": "moby-dick", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 428, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "madness", "slug": "madness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/madness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#The_Grand_Armada_(87)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:41" }, { "id": "104849a1-41be-4b93-8c38-562fb70c300d", "slug": "no-natural-boundary", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america/no-natural-boundary", "text": "No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and what is not yet done is only what he has not yet attempted to do.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Alexis de Tocqueville", "slug": "alexis-de-tocqueville", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville" }, "book": { "title": "Democracy in America", "slug": "democracy-in-america", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/alexis-de-tocqueville/democracy-in-america" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "ambition", "slug": "ambition", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/ambition" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexis_de_Tocqueville#Democracy_in_America,_Volume_I_(1835)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:38" }, { "id": "6aefdf87-1f73-422a-ae42-2d94ca4323e2", "slug": "man-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/man-is-not", "text": "Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all things, as the objective idealists and materialists would say. The Quality which creates the world emerges as a relationship between man and his experience. He is a participant in the creation of all things. The measure of all things—it fits.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Robert M. Pirsig", "slug": "robert-m-pirsig", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig" }, "book": { "title": "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "slug": "zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-m-pirsig/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "quality", "slug": "quality", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/quality" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig#Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance_(1974)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:33" }, { "id": "fccebc36-b840-44a4-ad0b-c58e9bb7a2be", "slug": "it-costs-so-much", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west/the-shoes-of-the-fisherman/it-costs-so-much", "text": "It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment, or the courage, to pay the price…. One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover, and yet demand no easy return of love. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to the total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Morris West", "slug": "morris-west", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west" }, "book": { "title": "The Shoes of the Fisherman", "slug": "the-shoes-of-the-fisherman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/morris-west/the-shoes-of-the-fisherman" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "courage", "slug": "courage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/courage" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Morris_West#The_Shoes_of_the_Fisherman_(1963)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "9510188e-f413-4dc1-9515-fd1afa73b939", "slug": "if-theres-nothing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience/if-theres-nothing", "text": "If there's nothing in here but atoms, does that make us less or does that make matter more?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "The Varieties of Scientific Experience", "slug": "the-varieties-of-scientific-experience", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/the-varieties-of-scientific-experience" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Varieties_of_Scientific_Experience:_A_Personal_View_of_the_Search_for_God_(2006)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:30" }, { "id": "f20c1c19-8cf5-4993-b814-ed95dc6ca476", "slug": "we-have-heard", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/we-have-heard", "text": "We have heard the rationales offered by the nuclear superpowers. We know who speaks for the nations. But who speaks for the human species? Who speaks for Earth?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 329, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "politics", "slug": "politics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "e51bc9a7-8dbe-485f-9663-7dfe71d3d3a5", "slug": "the-choice-is-with", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/the-choice-is-with", "text": "The choice is with us still, but the civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and the sky. In our tenure on this planet we've accumulated dangerous evolutionary baggage — propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders — all of which puts our survival in some doubt. But we've also acquired compassion for others, love for our children and desire to learn from history and experience, and a great soaring passionate intelligence — the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity. Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our visions and prospects are bound to one small part of the small planet Earth. But up there in the immensity of the Cosmos, an inescapable perspective awaits us. There are not yet any obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours always rush implacably, headlong, toward self-destruction. National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical ethnic or religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars. Travel is broadening.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 318, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "survival", "slug": "survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/survival" }, { "name": "nationalism", "slug": "nationalism", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nationalism" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "bdcebef1-f162-457d-bdc9-67d01bd59de8", "slug": "for-as-long", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/for-as-long", "text": "For as long as there been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. This perspective is a courageous continuation of our penchant for constructing and testing mental models of the skies; the Sun as a red-hot stone, the stars as a celestial flame, the Galaxy as the backbone of night.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 193, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "81b1bd8a-c4c9-4e8b-a032-8d190ad6bfe5", "slug": "the-universe-seems", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/the-universe-seems", "text": "The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent to the concerns of such puny creatures as we are.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 250, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the universe", "slug": "the-universe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-universe" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "42989f3c-c46d-42f8-891c-3c1a157dce0d", "slug": "human-history-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos/human-history-can", "text": "Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together — surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth. Many of those who run the nations will find this idea unpleasant. They will fear the loss of power. We will hear much about treason and disloyalty. Rich nation-states will have to share their wealth with poor ones. But the choice, as H. G. Wells once said in a different context, is clearly the universe or nothing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Cosmos", "slug": "cosmos", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/cosmos" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 339, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "survival", "slug": "survival", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/survival" }, { "name": "loyalty", "slug": "loyalty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loyalty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#Cosmos_(1980)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:27" }, { "id": "6340e772-5d84-4d84-aeef-cf3f955ca275", "slug": "while-ritual-emotion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/dragons-of-eden/while-ritual-emotion", "text": "While ritual, emotion and reasoning are all significant aspects of human nature, the most nearly unique human characteristic is the ability to associate abstractly and to reason. Curiosity and the urge to solve problems are the emotional hallmarks of our species; and the most characteristically human activities are mathematics, science, technology, music and the arts--a somewhat broader range of subjects than is usually included under the “humanities.” Indeed, in its common usage this very word seems to reflect a peculiar narrowness of vision about what is human. Mathematics is as much a “humanity” as poetry.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Sagan", "slug": "carl-sagan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan" }, "book": { "title": "Dragons of Eden", "slug": "dragons-of-eden", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-sagan/dragons-of-eden" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 81, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "curiosity", "slug": "curiosity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/curiosity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan#The_Dragons_of_Eden_(1977)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:25" }, { "id": "de6cd363-d844-40c5-ac10-a789af8d5775", "slug": "in-most-cases", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/in-most-cases", "text": "In most cases, people, even the most vicious, are much more naive and simple-minded than we assume them to be. And this is true of ourselves too.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Brothers Karamazov", "slug": "the-brothers-karamazov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "naivety", "slug": "naivety", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/naivety" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Brothers_Karamazov_(1879%E2%80%931880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:24" }, { "id": "b648531d-0f3b-4c35-b2d3-67041e071b54", "slug": "i-think-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/i-think-the", "text": "I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Brothers Karamazov", "slug": "the-brothers-karamazov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Brothers_Karamazov_(1879%E2%80%931880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:24" }, { "id": "752bb418-ad39-40ec-9ba3-aac1a984adce", "slug": "its-just-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/its-just-the", "text": "\"It's just the same story as a doctor once told me,\" observed the elder. \"He was a man getting on in years, and undoubtedly clever. He spoke as frankly as you, though in jest, in bitter jest. 'I love humanity,' he said, 'but I wonder at myself. The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular. In my dreams,' he said, 'I have often come to making enthusiastic schemes for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually have faced crucifixion if it had been suddenly necessary; and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with any one for two days together, as I know by experience. As soon as any one is near me, his personality disturbs my self-complacency and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he's too long over his dinner; another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I detest men individually the more ardent becomes my love for humanity.'\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Brothers Karamazov", "slug": "the-brothers-karamazov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "relationships", "slug": "relationships", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Brothers_Karamazov_(1879%E2%80%931880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:24" }, { "id": "277f2cd1-8683-44c9-bd93-aac937cb8564", "slug": "people-talk-sometimes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov/people-talk-sometimes", "text": "People talk sometimes of a bestial cruelty, but that's a great injustice and insult to the beasts; a beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically cruel. The tiger only tears and gnaws, that's all he can do. He would never think of nailing people by the ears, even if he were able to do it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "The Brothers Karamazov", "slug": "the-brothers-karamazov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/the-brothers-karamazov" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" }, { "name": "cruelty", "slug": "cruelty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cruelty" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#The_Brothers_Karamazov_(1879%E2%80%931880)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:24" }, { "id": "600f879a-4897-4d76-88cf-6c1a512feae3", "slug": "talking-nonsense-is-mans", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/crime-and-punishment/talking-nonsense-is-mans", "text": "Talking nonsense is man's only privilege that distinguishes him from all other organisms.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "Crime and Punishment", "slug": "crime-and-punishment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/crime-and-punishment" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#Crime_and_Punishment_(1866)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:22" }, { "id": "4bd0a984-5334-40be-b8d6-58686f8bafd0", "slug": "man-grows-used", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/crime-and-punishment/man-grows-used", "text": "Man grows used to everything, the scoundrel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Fyodor Dostoyevsky", "slug": "fyodor-dostoyevsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky" }, "book": { "title": "Crime and Punishment", "slug": "crime-and-punishment", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/fyodor-dostoyevsky/crime-and-punishment" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "habits", "slug": "habits", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/habits" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky#Crime_and_Punishment_(1866)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:22" }, { "id": "f18f51ea-22fe-49cc-a13d-29410895e89c", "slug": "when-god-had", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston/their-eyes-were-watching-god/when-god-had", "text": "When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another, but the mud is deaf and dumb. Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Zora Neale Hurston", "slug": "zora-neale-hurston", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston" }, "book": { "title": "Their Eyes Were Watching God", "slug": "their-eyes-were-watching-god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/zora-neale-hurston/their-eyes-were-watching-god" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston#Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God_(1937)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:17" }, { "id": "94dcab92-5f02-4c62-9618-7249bc4257d4", "slug": "shadow-shook-his", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/shadow-shook-his", "text": "Shadow shook his head. \"You know,\" he said, \"I think I would rather be a man than a god. We don’t need anyone to believe in us. We just keep going anyhow. It’s what we do.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "faith", "slug": "faith", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/faith" }, { "name": "mythology", "slug": "mythology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mythology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_18", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:10" }, { "id": "a6c77e13-f7df-4075-b6d4-13546c0ad28d", "slug": "some-things-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods/some-things-may", "text": "\"Some things may change,\" said Wednesday, abruptly. \"People, however … people stay the same. Some grifts last forever, others are swallowed soon enough by time and by the world.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neil Gaiman", "slug": "neil-gaiman", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman" }, "book": { "title": "American Gods", "slug": "american-gods", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/american-gods" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "change", "slug": "change", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_Gods#Chapter_9", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:09" }, { "id": "08a0fc31-18f6-4c96-8c1b-147be4b3bb82", "slug": "nothing-wears-clothes", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple/nothing-wears-clothes", "text": "Nothing wears clothes, but Man; nothing doth need\n\nBut he to wear them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Herbert", "slug": "george-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Temple", "slug": "the-temple", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "fashion", "slug": "fashion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fashion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Herbert#The_Temple_(1633)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:01" }, { "id": "fff4e36e-9a5c-45f7-a405-3b5d26e6fec3", "slug": "man-is-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple/man-is-one", "text": "Man is one world, and hath\n\nAnother to attend him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Herbert", "slug": "george-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Temple", "slug": "the-temple", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Herbert#The_Temple_(1633)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:00" }, { "id": "7399f4f9-8dbd-49c5-96dd-53029ba78ebc", "slug": "man-is-no-star", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple/man-is-no-star", "text": "Man is no star, but a quick coal\n\nOf mortal fire:\n\nWho blows it not, nor doth control\n\nA faint desire,\n\nLets his own ashes choke his soul.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Herbert", "slug": "george-herbert", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert" }, "book": { "title": "The Temple", "slug": "the-temple", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-herbert/the-temple" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "soul", "slug": "soul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/soul" }, { "name": "desire", "slug": "desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/desire" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Herbert#The_Temple_(1633)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:40:00" }, { "id": "9916a92c-13d1-4db4-89ff-52a8e29e93d9", "slug": "we-must-therefore", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature/we-must-therefore", "text": "We must therefore glean up our experiments in this science from a cautious observation of human life, and take them as they appear in the common course of the world, by men's behaviour in company, in affairs, and in their pleasures. Where experiments of this kind are judiciously collected and compared, we may hope to establish on them a science, which will not be inferior in certainty, and will be much superior in utility to any other of human comprehension.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "David Hume", "slug": "david-hume", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume" }, "book": { "title": "A Treatise of Human Nature", "slug": "a-treatise-of-human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-hume/a-treatise-of-human-nature" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Hume#A_Treatise_of_Human_Nature_(1739-40)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:54" }, { "id": "f09ae748-bac5-41df-a645-51f4f6091265", "slug": "a-man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/a-man-is-the", "text": "A man is the resultant and exponent of all the forces that have been brought to bear upon him, whether before his birth or afterwards. His action at any moment depends solely upon his constitution, and on the intensity and direction of the various agencies to which he is, and has been, subjected. Some of these will counteract each other; but as he is by nature, and as he has been acted on, and is now acted on from without, so will he do, as certainly and regularly as though he were a machine.\n\nWe do not generally admit this, because we do not know the whole nature of any one, nor the whole of the forces that act upon him. We see but a part, and being thus unable to generalise human conduct, except very roughly, we deny that it is subject to any fixed laws at all, and ascribe much both of a man's character and actions to chance, or luck, or fortune; but these are only words whereby we escape the admission of our own ignorance; and a little reflection will teach us that the most daring flight of the imagination or the most subtle exercise of the reason is as much the thing that must arise, and the only thing that can by any possibility arise, at the moment of its arising, as the falling of a dead leaf when the wind shakes it from the tree.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Erewhon", "slug": "erewhon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "free will", "slug": "free-will", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/free-will" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#Erewhon_(1872)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:53" }, { "id": "6b19b4c5-7f1d-4335-bc48-0f38fac2ceca", "slug": "if-it-be-urged", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/if-it-be-urged", "text": "“If it be urged that the action of the potato is chemical and mechanical only, and that it is due to the chemical and mechanical effects of light and heat, the answer would seem to lie in an inquiry whether every sensation is not chemical and mechanical in its operation? whether those things which we deem most purely spiritual are anything but disturbances of equilibrium in an infinite series of levers, beginning with those that are too small for microscopic detection, and going up to the human arm and the appliances which it makes use of? whether there be not a molecular action of thought, whence a dynamical theory of the passions shall be deducible? Whether strictly speaking we should not ask what kind of levers a man is made of rather than what is his temperament? How are they balanced? How much of such and such will it take to weigh them down so as to make him do so and so?”", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Samuel Butler", "slug": "samuel-butler", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler" }, "book": { "title": "Erewhon", "slug": "erewhon", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-butler/erewhon" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_(novelist)#Erewhon_(1872)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:53" }, { "id": "15a0555b-6c1e-480a-a2ab-b5d890d9b2bd", "slug": "there-is-no-creature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/middlemarch/there-is-no-creature", "text": "There is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside it. A new Theresa will hardly have the opportunity of reforming a conventual life, any more than a new Antigone will spend her heroic piety in daring all for the sake of a brother's burial: the medium in which their ardent deeds took shape is forever gone. But we insignificant people with our daily words and acts are preparing the lives of many Dorotheas, some of which may present a far sadder sacrifice than that of the Dorothea whose story we know.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Middlemarch", "slug": "middlemarch", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/middlemarch" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot#Middlemarch_(1871-72)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:52" }, { "id": "9bafb97d-4b26-4557-9601-ecce00b6d24f", "slug": "most-people-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/scenes-of-clerical-life/most-people-are", "text": "[Most people] are neither extraordinarily silly, nor extraordinarily wicked, nor extraordinarily wise; their eyes are neither deep and liquid with sentiment, nor sparkling with suppressed witticisms; they have probably had no hairbreadth escapes or thrilling adventures; their brains are certainly not pregnant with genius, and their passions have not manifested themselves at all after the fashion of a volcano. ... Depend upon it, you would gain unspeakably if you would learn with me to see some of the poetry and the pathos, the tragedy and the comedy, lying in the experience of a human soul that looks out through dull grey eyes, and that speaks in a voice of quite ordinary tones.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Scenes of Clerical Life", "slug": "scenes-of-clerical-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/scenes-of-clerical-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot#Scenes_of_Clerical_Life_(1858)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:49" }, { "id": "001b90de-455c-44a4-a7f3-864389a24747", "slug": "mens-lives-are", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede/mens-lives-are", "text": "Men's lives are as thoroughly blended with each other as the air they breathe: evil spreads as necessarily as disease.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Eliot", "slug": "george-eliot", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot" }, "book": { "title": "Adam Bede", "slug": "adam-bede", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-eliot/adam-bede" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot#Adam_Bede_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:49" }, { "id": "d26e9d00-6b3d-4723-b694-7e82da129c6a", "slug": "save-us-christ", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/the-mansion/save-us-christ", "text": "Save us, Christ, the poor sons of bitches.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Faulkner", "slug": "william-faulkner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner" }, "book": { "title": "The Mansion", "slug": "the-mansion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/the-mansion" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner#The_Mansion_(1959)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:47" }, { "id": "a1093b50-eac9-415c-9e0c-72bc4ad9bcb1", "slug": "man-knows-so-little", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august/man-knows-so-little", "text": "Man knows so little about his fellows. In his eyes all men or women act upon what he believes would motivate him if he were mad enough to do what the other man or woman is doing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Faulkner", "slug": "william-faulkner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner" }, "book": { "title": "Light in August", "slug": "light-in-august", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "psychology", "slug": "psychology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/psychology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner#Light_in_August_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:45" }, { "id": "6f700b8f-ea3a-4bef-b507-6f3a8ee9c827", "slug": "poor-man-poor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august/poor-man-poor", "text": "Poor man. Poor mankind.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Faulkner", "slug": "william-faulkner", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner" }, "book": { "title": "Light in August", "slug": "light-in-august", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-faulkner/light-in-august" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner#Light_in_August_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:45" }, { "id": "e62552fb-9fd8-47fb-b878-4e5bcdf50b86", "slug": "man-starts-over", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/man-starts-over", "text": "Man starts over again everyday, in spite of all he knows, against all he knows.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Emil Cioran", "slug": "emil-cioran", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran" }, "book": { "title": "A Short History of Decay", "slug": "a-short-history-of-decay", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran#A_Short_History_of_Decay_(1949)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:40" }, { "id": "b227f23e-a67c-460d-93e3-43d2e2e8aab9", "slug": "for-myself-i-am-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/for-myself-i-am-not", "text": "For myself, I am not pledged to the support of any system. I am a plain and honest man, one who is not carried away by party spirit, one who has no ambition to be head of a sect; I am content with the place where God has set me; I see nothing, next to God himself, which is better than my species; and if I had to choose my place in the order of creation, what more could I choose than to be a man! I am not puffed up by this thought, I am deeply moved by it; for this state was no choice of mine, it was not due to the deserts of a creature who as yet did not exist. Can I behold myself thus distinguished without congratulating myself on this post of honour, without blessing the hand which bestowed it? The first return to self has given birth to a feeling of gratitude and thankfulness to the author of my species, and this feeling calls forth my first homage to the beneficent Godhead. I worship his Almighty power and my heart acknowledges his mercies. Is it not a natural consequence of our self-love to honour our protector and to love our benefactor?", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "god", "slug": "god", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/god" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "gratitude", "slug": "gratitude", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/gratitude" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#The_Creed_of_the_Savoyard_Priest", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:36" }, { "id": "4ac36ac1-9b7f-44ac-a513-f814e73dc218", "slug": "one-must-choose", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/one-must-choose", "text": "One must choose between making a man or a citizen, for one cannot make both at the same time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "the state", "slug": "the-state", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_V", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:36" }, { "id": "5947bb86-9068-41bb-b3ad-84b9ae878f88", "slug": "but-when-in-my-desire", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/but-when-in-my-desire", "text": "But when, in my desire to discover my own place within my species, I consider its different ranks and the men who fill them, where am I now? What a sight meets my eyes! Where is now the order I perceived? Nature showed me a scene of harmony and proportion; the human race shows me nothing but confusion and disorder. The elements agree together; men are in a state of chaos. The beasts are happy; their king alone is wretched.\n\nThere is no evil but the evil you do or the evil you suffer, and both come from yourself. Evil in general can only spring from disorder, and in the order of the world I find a never failing system. Evil in particular cases exists only in the mind of those who experience it; and this feeling is not the gift of nature, but the work of man himself. Pain has little power over those who, having thought little, look neither before nor after. Take away our fatal progress, take away our faults and our vices, take away man's handiwork, and all is well. Where all is well, there is no such thing as injustice. Justice and goodness are inseparable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "0f430436-4400-46b6-bf20-da75ac41b951", "slug": "man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/man-is-the", "text": "Man is the cheapest commodity on the market, and among all our important rights of property, the rights of the individual are always considered last of all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "private property", "slug": "private-property", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/private-property" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:35" }, { "id": "f849174b-c9ad-4aab-a035-fcef4ef37c8a", "slug": "i-would-prefer", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-would-prefer", "text": "I would prefer to begin the study of the human heart with reading the lives of individuals; for then the man hides himself in vain, the historian follows him everywhere; he never gives him a moment's grace nor any corner where he can escape the piercing eye of the spectator; and when he thinks he is concealing himself, then it is that the writer shows him up most plainly. \"Those who write lives,\" says Montaigne, \"in so far as they delight more in ideas than in events, more in that which comes from within than in that which comes from without, these are the writers I prefer; for this reason Plutarch is in every way the man for me.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:34" }, { "id": "1c7e3bf6-5bed-4fc8-9ec7-4c8586af208f", "slug": "i-would-have", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/i-would-have", "text": "I would have you so choose the company of a youth that he should think well of those among whom he lives, and I would have you so teach him to know the world that he should think ill of all that takes place in it. Let him know that man is by nature good, let him feel it, let him judge his neighbour by himself; but let him see how men are depraved and perverted by society; let him find the source of all their vices in their preconceived opinions; let him be disposed to respect the individual, but to despise the multitude; let him see that all men wear almost the same mask, but let him also know that some faces are fairer than the mask that conceals them.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" }, { "name": "appearances", "slug": "appearances", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:34" }, { "id": "0549ccff-3ae8-4b1d-a462-8b94e3e4c326", "slug": "what-man-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/what-man-has", "text": "What man has made, man may destroy. Nature's characters alone are ineffaceable, and nature makes neither the prince, the rich man, nor the nobleman. This satrap whom you have educated for greatness, what will become of him in his degradation? This farmer of the taxes who can only live on gold, what will he do in poverty? This haughty fool who cannot use his own hands, who prides himself on what is not really his, what will he do when he is stripped of all? In that day, happy will he be who can give up the rank which is no longer his, and be still a man in Fate's despite. Let men praise as they will that conquered monarch who like a madman would be buried beneath the fragments of his throne; I behold him with scorn; to me he is merely a crown, and when that is gone he is nothing. But he who loses his crown and lives without it, is more than a king; from the rank of a king, which may be held by a coward, a villain, or madman, he rises to the rank of a man, a position few can fill. Thus he triumphs over Fortune, he dares to look her in the face; he depends on himself alone, and when he has nothing left to show but himself he is not a nonentity, he is somebody.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "dignity", "slug": "dignity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_III", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:33" }, { "id": "674e91ec-086c-4242-869a-d2a2bfb133d2", "slug": "it-matters-little", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/it-matters-little", "text": "It matters little to me whether my pupil is intended for the army, the church, or the law. Before his parents chose a calling for him nature called him to be a man. Life is the trade I would teach him. When he leaves me, I grant you, he will be neither a magistrate, a soldier, nor a priest; he will be a man. All that becomes a man he will learn as quickly as another. In vain will fate change his station, he will always be in his right place.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "education", "slug": "education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/education" }, { "name": "vocation", "slug": "vocation", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/vocation" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:31" }, { "id": "631ef842-1e70-4ee0-9fc1-cecb8d8c10e0", "slug": "god-makes-all", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education/god-makes-all", "text": "God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil. He forces one soil to yield the products of another, one tree to bear another's fruit. He confuses and confounds time, place, and natural conditions. He mutilates his dog, his horse, and his slave. He destroys and defaces all things; he loves all that is deformed and monstrous; he will have nothing as nature made it, not even man himself, who must learn his paces like a saddle-horse, and be shaped to his master's taste like the trees in his garden. Yet things would be worse without this education, and mankind cannot be made by halves. Under existing conditions a man left to himself from birth would be more of a monster than the rest. Prejudice, authority, necessity, example, all the social conditions into which we are plunged, would stifle nature in him and put nothing in her place. She would be like a sapling chance sown in the midst of the highway, bent hither and thither and soon crushed by the passers-by.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jean Jacques Rousseau", "slug": "jean-jacques-rousseau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau" }, "book": { "title": "Emile; or On Education", "slug": "emile-or-on-education", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jean-jacques-rousseau/emile-or-on-education" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emile,_or_On_Education#Book_I", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:31" }, { "id": "e9c5b6c5-a1c1-43ce-8806-579200eea2b3", "slug": "it-was-too", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday/it-was-too", "text": "It was too sweeping a judgement to be satisfactory; the idea dawned in Charley's mind that perhaps men were more complicated than he had imagined, and if you just said that a man was this or that you couldn't get very far.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Christmas Holiday", "slug": "christmas-holiday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 164, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "judging others", "slug": "judging-others", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/judging-others" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Christmas_Holiday_(1939)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "e4e6ebcc-73e1-44a7-ad18-bde0a4869514", "slug": "it-looked-as-though", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday/it-looked-as-though", "text": "It looked as though the people we thought we knew best carried secrets that they didn't even know themselves. Charley had a sudden inkling that human beings were infinitely mysterious. The fact was that you knew nothing about anybody.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Christmas Holiday", "slug": "christmas-holiday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 213, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "secrets", "slug": "secrets", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/secrets" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Christmas_Holiday_(1939)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "332fc3f1-205a-45dd-99d3-450ee8ad69dc", "slug": "you-know-a-thing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday/you-know-a-thing", "text": "\"You know, a thing that has always struck me is people's fiendish eagerness to give anyone away. They pretend it's public spirit, I don't believe a word of it; I don't believe it's even, as a rule anyway, the desire for notoriety; I believe it's just due to the baseness of human nature that gets a kick out of injuring others. There's a whole mass of people who can't wait if they have the chance of doing down someone who's trying to get away with anything.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Christmas Holiday", "slug": "christmas-holiday", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/christmas-holiday" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 154, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Christmas_Holiday_(1939)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "196f9100-e39a-4d2b-a0b5-96b5bc3d3505", "slug": "ill-give-you", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/ill-give-you", "text": "I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell... their heart's in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Summing Up", "slug": "the-summing-up", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 206, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "stupidity", "slug": "stupidity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/stupidity" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Summing_Up_(1938)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:28" }, { "id": "dc0d4b0c-7425-4812-8ae7-d3783fd99654", "slug": "i-had-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-moon-and-sixpence/i-had-not", "text": "I had not yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; I did not know how much pose there is in the sincere, how much baseness in the noble, or how much goodness in the reprobate.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "The Moon And Sixpence", "slug": "the-moon-and-sixpence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-moon-and-sixpence" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 39, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "paradox", "slug": "paradox", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/paradox" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Moon_and_Sixpence_(1919)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:26" }, { "id": "c67c4255-056c-4bde-9833-875d7ff59905", "slug": "men-seek-but", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage/men-seek-but", "text": "Men seek but one thing in life — their pleasure.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "William Somerset Maugham", "slug": "william-somerset-maugham", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham" }, "book": { "title": "Of Human Bondage", "slug": "of-human-bondage", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/of-human-bondage" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "pleasure", "slug": "pleasure", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/pleasure" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#Of_Human_Bondage_(1915)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:26" }, { "id": "facded63-0851-43e3-a136-d04f3dd5a7bd", "slug": "ive-had-enough", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x/ive-had-enough", "text": "I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Malcolm X", "slug": "malcolm-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x" }, "book": { "title": "The Autobiography of Malcolm X", "slug": "the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/malcolm-x/the-autobiography-of-malcolm-x" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 400, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "truth", "slug": "truth", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "justice", "slug": "justice", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_X#The_Autobiography_of_Malcolm_X_(1965)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:25" }, { "id": "c6dcdab5-59c0-43be-8c87-9a60066078d8", "slug": "as-all-those", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy/as-all-those", "text": "As all those have shown who have discussed civil institutions, and as every history is full of examples, it is necessary to whoever arranges to found a Republic and establish laws in it, to presuppose that all men are bad and that they will use their malignity of mind every time they have the opportunity; and if such malignity is hidden for a time, it proceeds from the unknown reason that would not be known because the experience of the contrary had not been seen, but time, which is said to be the father of every truth, will cause it to be discovered.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Niccolo Machiavelli", "slug": "niccolo-machiavelli", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli" }, "book": { "title": "Discourses on Livy", "slug": "discourses-on-livy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/niccolo-machiavelli/discourses-on-livy" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "law", "slug": "law", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli#Discourses_on_Livy_(1517)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:24" }, { "id": "0f91fc1d-f1fa-4158-afa9-7d290ad74b23", "slug": "and-what-has", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/and-what-has", "text": "And what has Don Quixote left, do you ask? I answer, he has left himself, and a man, a living and eternal man, is worth all the theories and all the philosophies. Other peoples have left chiefly institutions, books; we have left souls; St. Teresa is worth any institution, any Critique of Pure Reason.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "philosophy", "slug": "philosophy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/philosophy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#Conclusion_:_Don_Quixote_in_the_Contemporary_European_Tragi-Comedy", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:23" }, { "id": "feb5a866-f398-4a26-b942-f51b990abebb", "slug": "i-know-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/i-know-that", "text": "I know that all this is dull reading, tiresome, perhaps tedious, but it is all necessary. And I must repeat once again that we have nothing to do with a transcendental police system or with the conversion of God into a great Judge or Policeman — that is to say, we are not concerned with heaven or hell considered as buttresses to shore up our poor earthly mortality, nor are we concerned with anything egoistic or personal. It is not I myself alone, it is the whole human race that is involved, it is the ultimate finality of all our civilization. I am but one, but all men are I's.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hell", "slug": "hell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#VI_:_In_the_Depths_of_the_Abyss", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:21" }, { "id": "e50c5e5a-5e74-4e3f-978f-009e9de3f3fc", "slug": "the-man-of-flesh", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/the-man-of-flesh", "text": "The man of flesh and bone; the man who is born, suffers, and dies—above all, who dies; the man who eats and drinks and plays and sleeps and thinks and wills; the man who is seen and heard; the brother, the real brother.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "death", "slug": "death", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/death" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#The_Tragic_Sense_of_Life_(1913)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "ce8eaaed-b049-48d7-853a-7498e9966a77", "slug": "man-is-said", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life/man-is-said", "text": "Man is said to be a reasoning animal. I do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. Perhaps that which differentiates him from other animals is feeling rather than reason. More often I have seen a cat reason than laugh or weep. Perhaps it weeps or laughs inwardly — but then perhaps, also inwardly, the crab resolves equations of the second degree.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Miguel de Unamuno", "slug": "miguel-de-unamuno", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno" }, "book": { "title": "Tragic Sense of Life", "slug": "tragic-sense-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/miguel-de-unamuno/tragic-sense-of-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "reason", "slug": "reason", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reason" }, { "name": "emotions", "slug": "emotions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno#I_:_The_Man_of_Flesh_and_Bone", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:20" }, { "id": "bdcbd0c8-edb6-4567-b2b0-27fcbea35ed4", "slug": "it-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one/it-is-the", "text": "It is the army that finally makes a citizen of you; without it you still have a chance, however slim, to remain a human being.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Joseph Brodsky", "slug": "joseph-brodsky", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky" }, "book": { "title": "Less Than One", "slug": "less-than-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/joseph-brodsky/less-than-one" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Brodsky#Less_Than_One:_Selected_Essays_(1986)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:16" }, { "id": "3b36c326-b3f2-4d3b-8bf5-82b3ca47122d", "slug": "it-is-astounding", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self/it-is-astounding", "text": "It is astounding that man, the instigator, inventor and vehicle of all these developments, the originator of all judgements and decisions and the planner of the future, must make himself such a quantité negligeable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Carl Jung", "slug": "carl-jung", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung" }, "book": { "title": "The Undiscovered Self", "slug": "the-undiscovered-self", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/carl-jung/the-undiscovered-self" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 45, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "technology", "slug": "technology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#The_Undiscovered_Self_(1958)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:16" }, { "id": "2e1ec504-1678-4911-96f1-1a5e15d4ac52", "slug": "we-control-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/we-control-life", "text": "We control life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us. But we create human nature. Men are infinitely malleable. Or perhaps you have returned to your old idea that the proletarians or the slaves will arise and overthrow us. Put it out of your mind. They are helpless, like the animals. Humanity is the Party. The others are outside — irrelevant.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "power", "slug": "power", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_3", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:15" }, { "id": "23e6b95a-88f1-4c6e-a2b8-12e2f017fd36", "slug": "facts-at-any", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four/facts-at-any", "text": "Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden. They could be tracked down by enquiry, they could be squeezed out of you by torture. But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make? They could not alter your feelings: for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "George Orwell", "slug": "george-orwell", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell" }, "book": { "title": "Nineteen Eighty-Four", "slug": "nineteen-eighty-four", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-orwell/nineteen-eighty-four" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "dignity", "slug": "dignity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four#Chapter_7", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:14" }, { "id": "fbe26676-087a-4f9b-a49d-73e3bd335430", "slug": "humans-are-amphibians", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters/humans-are-amphibians", "text": "Humans are amphibians — half spirit and half animal. . . . As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "C. S. Lewis", "slug": "c-s-lewis", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis" }, "book": { "title": "The Screwtape Letters", "slug": "the-screwtape-letters", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/c-s-lewis/the-screwtape-letters" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis#The_Screwtape_Letters_(1942)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:39:01" }, { "id": "bf07076c-21b1-41f8-90aa-35159b87af0d", "slug": "but-man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/a-modern-utopia/but-man-is-the", "text": "But man is the unnatural animal, the rebel child of Nature, and more and more does he turn himself against the harsh and fitful hand that reared him.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "A Modern Utopia", "slug": "a-modern-utopia", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/a-modern-utopia" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "nature", "slug": "nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#A_Modern_Utopia_(1905)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:58" }, { "id": "e5579cb3-6769-4192-8a4d-55e6b026dea2", "slug": "great-and-strange", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man/great-and-strange", "text": "Great and strange ideas transcending experience often have less effect upon men and women than smaller, more tangible considerations.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Invisible Man", "slug": "the-invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Invisible_Man_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:57" }, { "id": "00b1a72b-1ded-463b-ba42-35a8e1d73afc", "slug": "all-men-however", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man/all-men-however", "text": "All men, however highly educated, retain some superstitious inklings.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Invisible Man", "slug": "the-invisible-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-invisible-man" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Invisible_Man_(1897)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:57" }, { "id": "f3d2de40-bb23-48f5-9502-d10ea8c381a0", "slug": "an-animal-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/an-animal-may", "text": "An animal may be ferocious and cunning enough, but it takes a real man to tell a lie.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "lies", "slug": "lies", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/lies" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "ed0ff593-c191-4a15-a1f2-c6debf789f03", "slug": "there-is-a-kind", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/there-is-a-kind", "text": "There is a kind of travesty of humanity over there. Montgomery knows about it, for he interferes in their affairs. He has trained one or two of them to our service. He's ashamed of it, but I believe he half likes some of those beasts. It's his business, not mine. They only sicken me with a sense of failure. I take no interest in them. I fancy they follow in the lines the Kanaka missionary marked out, and have a kind of mockery of a rational life, poor beasts! There's something they call the Law. Sing hymns about ‘all thine.’ They build themselves their dens, gather fruit, and pull herbs — marry even. But I can see through it all, see into their very souls, and see there nothing but the souls of beasts, beasts that perish, anger and the lusts to live and gratify themselves. — Yet they're odd; complex, like everything else alive. There is a kind of upward striving in them, part vanity, part waste sexual emotion, part waste curiosity. It only mocks me.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "a8253b14-b516-4ce7-b3fa-0e37bc4bbb57", "slug": "these-creatures-of-mine", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/these-creatures-of-mine", "text": "These creatures of mine seemed strange and uncanny to you so soon as you began to observe them; but to me, just after I make them, they seem to be indisputably human beings. It's afterwards, as I observe them, that the persuasion fades. First one animal trait, then another, creeps to the surface and stares out at me. But I will conquer yet! Each time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say: 'This time I will burn out all the animal; this time I will make a rational creature of my own!' After all, what is ten years? Men have been a hundred thousand in the making.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "animals", "slug": "animals", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/animals" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "6a553123-f7a3-4da7-ab54-67871d80a3f6", "slug": "i-do-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/i-do-not", "text": "...I do not expect that the terror of that island will ever altogether leave me. At most times it lies far in the back of my mind, a mere distant cloud, a memory, and a faint distrust; but there are times when the little cloud spreads until it obscures the whole sky. Then I look about me at my fellow men; and I go in fear. I see faces, keen and bright; others, dull or dangerous; others, unsteady, insincere; none that have the calm authority of a reasonable soul. I feel as though the animal was surging up through them; that presently the degradation of the Islanders will be played over again on a larger scale. I know this is an illusion, that these seeming men and women about me are indeed men and women, men and women for ever, perfectly reasonable creatures, full of human desires and tender solicitude, emancipated from instinct and the slaves of no fantastic Law — beings altogether different from the Beast Folk. Yet I shrink from them, from their curious glances, their inquiries and assistance, and long to be away from them and alone.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "fear", "slug": "fear", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "27f32b97-3218-4539-96e9-eb0362a8b3a6", "slug": "i-say-i-became", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/i-say-i-became", "text": "I say I became habituated to the Beast People, that a thousand things which had seemed unnatural and repulsive speedily became natural and ordinary to me. I suppose everything in existence takes its colour from the average hue of our surroundings. Montgomery and Moreau were too peculiar and individual to keep my general impressions of humanity well defined. I would see one of the clumsy bovine-creatures who worked the launch, treading heavily through the undergrowth, and find myself asking, trying hard to recall, how he differed from some really human yokel trudging home from his mechanical labours; or I would meet the Fox-Bear Woman's vulpine, shifty face, strangely human in its speculative cunning, and even imagine I had met it before in some city byway.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "0a30361e-2f78-4a60-9f1f-a03272c8db54", "slug": "a-strange-persuasion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau/a-strange-persuasion", "text": "A strange persuasion came upon me that, save for the grossness of the line, the grotesqueness of the forms, I had here before me the whole balance of human life in miniature, the whole interplay of instinct, reason, and fate in its simplest form.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "H.G. Wells", "slug": "hg-wells", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells" }, "book": { "title": "The Island of Doctor Moreau", "slug": "the-island-of-doctor-moreau", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-island-of-doctor-moreau" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "life", "slug": "life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_(1896)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:56" }, { "id": "368a5c8c-af95-425c-ac7a-a33d5fd42c4d", "slug": "human-nature-is-so-well", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/emma/human-nature-is-so-well", "text": "Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure of being kindly spoken of.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jane Austen", "slug": "jane-austen", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen" }, "book": { "title": "Emma", "slug": "emma", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jane-austen/emma" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_(novel)#Volume_2", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:55" }, { "id": "61162d7c-f8a1-48bf-ad40-af6697b893b7", "slug": "i-cannot-but", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift/gullivers-travels/i-cannot-but", "text": "I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jonathan Swift", "slug": "jonathan-swift", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift" }, "book": { "title": "Gulliver's Travels", "slug": "gullivers-travels", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonathan-swift/gullivers-travels" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift#Gulliver's_Travels_(1726)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:50" }, { "id": "fedbc214-ee27-4063-9726-e7be5ee461ff", "slug": "out-of-one", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/out-of-one", "text": "Out of one man a race\n\nOf men innumerable.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_VII", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:47" }, { "id": "e09e11b8-2ac5-491d-abb2-f7346fb98e28", "slug": "two-of-far", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/two-of-far", "text": "Two of far nobler shape erect and tall,\n\nGodlike erect, with native honor clad\n\nIn naked majesty seemed lords of all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_IV", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:46" }, { "id": "4ba6dd62-7985-4c5f-a488-0dfc451fa0e0", "slug": "oh-shame-to-men", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/oh-shame-to-men", "text": "Oh, shame to men! devil with devil damn'd\n\nFirm concord holds, men only disagree\n\nOf creatures rational.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Milton", "slug": "john-milton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton" }, "book": { "title": "Paradise Lost", "slug": "paradise-lost", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "relationships", "slug": "relationships", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost#Book_II", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:46" }, { "id": "8c47ff87-aeae-4bcc-a1b0-d33955ab6f65", "slug": "mans-unhappiness-as-i-construe", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/mans-unhappiness-as-i-construe", "text": "Man's unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "7c4eca82-5a70-4f7b-81dd-e5545ab09cf1", "slug": "man-is-a-tool-using", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus/man-is-a-tool-using", "text": "Man is a tool-using animal...Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Thomas Carlyle", "slug": "thomas-carlyle", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle" }, "book": { "title": "Sartor Resartus", "slug": "sartor-resartus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-carlyle/sartor-resartus" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle#Sartor_Resartus_(1833%E2%80%931834)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:44" }, { "id": "c4e06aa9-145d-4b4e-a04a-e41c0756e141", "slug": "man-can-hardly", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/man-can-hardly", "text": "Man can hardly be defined, after the fashion of Carlyle, as an animal who makes tools; ants and beavers and many other animals make tools, in the sense that they make an apparatus. Man can be defined as an animal that makes dogmas. As he piles doctrine on doctrine and conclusion on conclusion in the formation of some tremendous scheme of philosophy and religion, he is, in the only legitimate sense of which the expression is capable, becoming more and more human.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XX:_%22Concluding_Remarks_on_the_Importance_of_Orthodoxy%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "56b9211b-cc57-4a32-8155-fd7f8493d8af", "slug": "for-if-i-may", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/for-if-i-may", "text": "For (if I may pursue the too flattering parallel) Mr. McCabe thinks of the Alhambra and of my articles as two very odd and absurd things, which some special people do (probably for money) in order to amuse him. But if he had ever felt himself the ancient, sublime, elemental, human instinct to dance, he would have discovered that dancing is not a frivolous thing at all, but a very serious thing. He would have discovered that it is the one grave and chaste and decent method of expressing a certain class of emotions. And similarly, if he had ever had, as Mr. Shaw and I have had, the impulse to what he calls paradox, he would have discovered that paradox again is not a frivolous thing, but a very serious thing. He would have found that paradox simply means a certain defiant joy which belongs to belief. I should regard any civilization which was without a universal habit of uproarious dancing as being, from the full human point of view, a defective civilization. And I should regard any mind which had not got the habit in one form or another of uproarious thinking as being, from the full human point of view, a defective mind. It is vain for Mr. McCabe to say that a ballet is a part of him. He should be part of a ballet, or else he is only part of a man. It is in vain for him to say that he is \"not quarrelling with the importation of humour into the controversy.\" He ought himself to be importing humour into every controversy; for unless a man is in part a humorist, he is only in part a man. To sum up the whole matter very simply, if Mr. McCabe asks me why I import frivolity into a discussion of the nature of man, I answer, because frivolity is a part of the nature of man. If he asks me why I introduce what he calls paradoxes into a philosophical problem, I answer, because all philosophical problems tend to become paradoxical. If he objects to my treating of life riotously, I reply that life is a riot. And I say that the Universe as I see it, at any rate, is very much more like the fireworks at the Crystal Palace than it is like his own philosophy. About the whole cosmos there is a tense and secret festivity—like preparations for Guy Fawkes' day. Eternity is the eve of something. I never look up at the stars without feeling that they are the fires of a schoolboy's rocket, fixed in their everlasting fall.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "humor", "slug": "humor", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XVI:_%22On_Mr._McCabe_and_a_Divine_Frivolity%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "55eb9f54-04b2-4b14-bc0d-e74ac60d446d", "slug": "a-poor-man", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/a-poor-man", "text": "A poor man is a man who has not got much money. This may seem a simple and unnecessary description, but in the face of a great mass of modern fact and fiction, it seems very necessary indeed; most of our realists and sociologists talk about a poor man as if he were an octopus or an alligator. There is no more need to study the psychology of poverty than to study the psychology of bad temper, or the psychology of vanity, or the psychology of animal spirits. A man ought to know something of the emotions of an insulted man, not by being insulted, but simply by being a man. And he ought to know something of the emotions of a poor man, not by being poor, but simply by being a man. Therefore, in any writer who is describing poverty, my first objection to him will be that he has studied his subject. A democrat would have imagined it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIX:_%22Slum_Novelists_and_the_Slums%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "24d9f57e-f44c-4210-9ea2-eb360f2f6bd6", "slug": "all-very-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/all-very-great", "text": "All very great teachers and leaders have had this habit of assuming their point of view to be one which was human and casual, one which would readily appeal to every passing man. If a man is genuinely superior to his fellows the first thing that he believes in is the equality of man. We can see this, for instance, in that strange and innocent rationality with which Christ addressed any motley crowd that happened to stand about Him. \"What man of you having a hundred sheep, and losing one, would not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which was lost?\" Or, again, \"What man of you if his son ask for bread will he give him a stone, or if he ask for a fish will he give him a serpent?\" This plainness, this almost prosaic camaraderie, is the note of all very great minds. To very great minds the things on which men agree are so immeasurably more important than the things on which they differ, that the latter, for all practical purposes, disappear. They have too much in them of an ancient laughter even to endure to discuss the difference between the hats of two men who were both born of a woman, or between the subtly varied cultures of two men who have both to die. The first-rate great man is equal with other men, like Shakespeare. The second-rate great man is on his knees to other men, like Whitman. The third-rate great man is superior to other men, like Whistler.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XVII:_%22On_the_Wit_of_Whistler%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "0f402f2b-3f66-4d14-80c1-6ae0e83d6c9a", "slug": "but-when-he-endeavours", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/but-when-he-endeavours", "text": "But when he endeavours to represent that he is describing the spiritual core of a costermonger, his dim vices and his delicate virtues, then we must object that his claim is preposterous; we must remind him that he is a journalist and nothing else. He has far less psychological authority even than the foolish missionary. For he is in the literal and derivative sense a journalist, while the missionary is an eternalist. The missionary at least pretends to have a version of the man's lot for all time; the journalist only pretends to have a version of it from day to day. The missionary comes to tell the poor man that he is in the same condition with all men. The journalist comes to tell other people how different the poor man is from everybody else.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIX:_%22Slum_Novelists_and_the_Slums%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:35" }, { "id": "f96bbad9-8418-4c82-a8c2-a0b6117358a5", "slug": "the-man-in-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-man-in-the", "text": "The man in the saloon steamer has seen all the races of men, and he is thinking of the things that divide men—diet, dress, decorum, rings in the nose as in Africa, or in the ears as in Europe, blue paint among the ancients, or red paint among the modern Britons. The man in the cabbage field has seen nothing at all; but he is thinking of the things that unite men—hunger and babies, and the beauty of women, and the promise or menace of the sky. Mr. Kipling, with all his merits, is the globe-trotter; he has not the patience to become part of anything. So great and genuine a man is not to be accused of a merely cynical cosmopolitanism; still, his cosmopolitanism is his weakness.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_III:_%22On_Mr._Rudyard_Kipling_and_Making_the_World_Small%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "d2683a31-5ed1-4a91-85c5-9e9ac1f62ad5", "slug": "after-belabouring-a-great", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/after-belabouring-a-great", "text": "After belabouring a great many people for a great many years for being unprogressive, Mr. Shaw has discovered, with characteristic sense, that it is very doubtful whether any existing human being with two legs can be progressive at all. Having come to doubt whether humanity can be combined with progress, most people, easily pleased, would have elected to abandon progress and remain with humanity. Mr. Shaw, not being easily pleased, decides to throw over humanity with all its limitations and go in for progress for its own sake. If man, as we know him, is incapable of the philosophy of progress, Mr. Shaw asks, not for a new kind of philosophy, but for a new kind of man.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_IV:_%22Mr._Bernard_Shaw%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "ca94f940-b6ff-4856-b224-54b0d44651fc", "slug": "and-all-aversions", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/and-all-aversions", "text": "And all aversions to ordinary humanity have this general character. They are not aversions to its feebleness (as is pretended), but to its energy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIV:_%22On_Certain_Modern_Writers_and_the_Institution_of_the_Family%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "b683e696-0c25-4fa8-aec0-abee679e1d83", "slug": "the-misanthropes-pretend", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-misanthropes-pretend", "text": "The misanthropes pretend that they despise humanity for its weakness. As a matter of fact, they hate it for its strength.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIV:_%22On_Certain_Modern_Writers_and_the_Institution_of_the_Family%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "7c468900-a63a-4162-beb4-6f0abe5e16a9", "slug": "when-christ-at-a-symbolic", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/when-christ-at-a-symbolic", "text": "When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its corner-stone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob a coward--in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "religion", "slug": "religion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_IV:_%22Mr._Bernard_Shaw%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "7962b805-3e5c-4e25-8a68-95da63f7f7aa", "slug": "the-tendency-of-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-tendency-of-that", "text": "The tendency of that argument is to represent the Irish or the Celts as a strange and separate race, as a tribe of eccentrics in the modern world immersed in dim legends and fruitless dreams. Its tendency is to exhibit the Irish as odd, because they see the fairies. Its trend is to make the Irish seem weird and wild because they sing old songs and join in strange dances. But this is quite an error; indeed, it is the opposite of the truth. It is the English who are odd because they do not see the fairies. It is the inhabitants of Kensington who are weird and wild because they do not sing old songs and join in strange dances. In all this the Irish are not in the least strange and separate, are not in the least Celtic, as the word is commonly and popularly used. In all this the Irish are simply an ordinary sensible nation, living the life of any other ordinary and sensible nation which has not been either sodden with smoke or oppressed by money-lenders, or otherwise corrupted with wealth and science. There is nothing Celtic about having legends. It is merely human.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XIII:_%22Celts_and_Celtophiles%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "77990dd4-2cf8-49f1-b7ca-bed87ad7489c", "slug": "a-man-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/a-man-can", "text": "A man can understand astronomy only by being an astronomer; he can understand entomology only by being an entomologist (or, perhaps, an insect); but he can understand a great deal of anthropology merely by being a man. He is himself the animal which he studies. Hence arises the fact which strikes the eye everywhere in the records of ethnology and folk-lore—the fact that the same frigid and detached spirit which leads to success in the study of astronomy or botany leads to disaster in the study of mythology or human origins. It is necessary to cease to be a man in order to do justice to a microbe; it is not necessary to cease to be a man in order to do justice to men. That same suppression of sympathies, that same waving away of intuitions or guess-work which make a man preternaturally clever in dealing with the stomach of a spider, will make him preternaturally stupid in dealing with the heart of man. He is making himself inhuman in order to understand humanity.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "science", "slug": "science", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_XI:_%22Science_and_the_Savages%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "38239432-a3e3-4c6d-912f-ab01675bd567", "slug": "the-strong-old", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-strong-old", "text": "The strong old literature is all in praise of the weak. The rude old tales are as tender to minorities as any modern political idealist. The rude old ballads are as sentimentally concerned for the under-dog as the Aborigines Protection Society. When men were tough and raw, when they lived amid hard knocks and hard laws, when they knew what fighting really was, they had only two kinds of songs. The first was a rejoicing that the weak had conquered the strong, the second a lamentation that the strong had, for once in a way, conquered the weak. For this defiance of the statu quo, this constant effort to alter the existing balance, this premature challenge to the powerful, is the whole nature and inmost secret of the psychological adventure which is called man. It is his strength to disdain strength.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "G. Chesterton", "slug": "g-chesterton", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton" }, "book": { "title": "Heretics", "slug": "heretics", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "literature", "slug": "literature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heretics_(book)#Chapter_V:_%22Mr._H._G._Wells_and_the_Giants%22", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:34" }, { "id": "a92d7dce-9273-4872-ab4e-304ff4b0fff6", "slug": "human-nature-is-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty/human-nature-is-not", "text": "Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make it a living thing.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "John Stuart Mill", "slug": "john-stuart-mill", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill" }, "book": { "title": "On Liberty", "slug": "on-liberty", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-stuart-mill/on-liberty" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "freedom", "slug": "freedom", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom" }, { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill#On_Liberty_(1859)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:30" }, { "id": "4f71f2f3-7479-4952-b531-fa3a39b11426", "slug": "economics-is-on-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space/economics-is-on-the", "text": "Economics is on the side of humanity now.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Isaac Asimov", "slug": "isaac-asimov", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov" }, "book": { "title": "The Currents of Space", "slug": "the-currents-of-space", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-currents-of-space" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 185, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "economy", "slug": "economy", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/economy" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov#The_Currents_of_Space_(1952)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:20" }, { "id": "39bfb8ba-ac8f-468d-8e90-6b4b6854e154", "slug": "the-people-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric/the-bridge-on-the-drina/the-people-were", "text": "The people were divided into the persecuted and those who persecuted them. That wild beast, which lives in man and does not dare to show itself until the barriers of law and custom have been removed, was now set free. The signal was given, the barriers were down. As has so often happened in the history of man, permission was tacitly granted for acts of violence and plunder, even for murder, if they were carried out in the name of higher interests, according to established rules, and against a limited number of men of a particular type and belief. A man who saw clearly and with open eyes and was then living could see how this miracle took place and how the whole of a society could, in a single day, be transformed. In a few minutes the business quarter, based on centuries of tradition, was wiped out. It is true that there had always been concealed enmities and jealousies and religious intolerance, coarseness and cruelty, but there had also been courage and fellowship and a feeling for measure and order, which restrained all these instincts within the limits of the supportable and, in the end, calmed them down and submitted them to the general interest of life in common. Men who had been leaders in the commercial quarter for forty years vanished overnight as if they had all died suddenly, together with the habits, customs and institutions which they represented.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Ivo Andric", "slug": "ivo-andric", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric" }, "book": { "title": "The Bridge on the Drina", "slug": "the-bridge-on-the-drina", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/ivo-andric/the-bridge-on-the-drina" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" }, { "name": "society", "slug": "society", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ivo_Andri%C4%87#The_Bridge_on_the_Drina_(1945)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:38:14" }, { "id": "f51f0f04-1ec7-418b-aa51-b874a5c0c9ec", "slug": "man-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/man-is-the", "text": "Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "The Rebel", "slug": "the-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "identity", "slug": "identity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#The_Rebel_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:57" }, { "id": "19267adb-cae7-4bf0-afaf-90b1b7d4bf13", "slug": "the-contradiction-is-this", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/the-contradiction-is-this", "text": "The contradiction is this: man rejects the world as it is, without accepting the necessity of escaping it. In fact, men cling to the world and by far the majority do not want to abandon it.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "The Rebel", "slug": "the-rebel", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#The_Rebel_(1951)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:57" }, { "id": "7b53e0c5-016d-4c1b-b180-7a0a4b362449", "slug": "there-are-more", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/there-are-more", "text": "...there are more things to admire in men than to despise.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Albert Camus", "slug": "albert-camus", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus" }, "book": { "title": "The Plague", "slug": "the-plague", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "kindness", "slug": "kindness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/kindness" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus#The_Plague_(1947)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:56" }, { "id": "6e70e988-5bec-4d50-9602-f8001694db2c", "slug": "every-instinct-that", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow/the-story-of-my-life/every-instinct-that", "text": "Every instinct that is found in any man is in all men. The strength of the emotion may not be so overpowering, the barriers against possession not so insurmountable, the urge to accomplish the desire less keen. With some, inhibitions and urges may be neutralized by other tendencies. But with every being the primal emotions are there. All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike some one they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Clarence Darrow", "slug": "clarence-darrow", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow" }, "book": { "title": "The Story Of My Life", "slug": "the-story-of-my-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/clarence-darrow/the-story-of-my-life" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "hatred", "slug": "hatred", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hatred" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow#The_Story_of_My_Life_(1932)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:50" }, { "id": "6bb5e08c-6f7f-456e-9feb-6a2ab35c8b5d", "slug": "the-first-premise", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology/the-first-premise", "text": "The first premise of all human history is, of course, the existence of living human individuals. Thus the first fact to be established is the physical organisation of these individuals and their consequent relation to the rest of nature.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Karl Marx", "slug": "karl-marx", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx" }, "book": { "title": "The German Ideology", "slug": "the-german-ideology", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/karl-marx/the-german-ideology" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "history", "slug": "history", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#The_German_Ideology_(1845-1846)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:48" }, { "id": "65895cff-79e6-4db1-b14b-90b894ab86d5", "slug": "that-is-the", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court/that-is-the", "text": "That is the way we are made: we don't reason, where we feel; we just feel.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", "slug": "a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur's_Court#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:48" }, { "id": "13e0030e-f8b3-44e8-af5d-6fc797a0cdc8", "slug": "the-pilgrims-were", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court/the-pilgrims-were", "text": "The pilgrims were human beings. Otherwise they would have acted differently. They had come a long and difficult journey, and now when the journey was nearly finished, and they learned that the main thing they had come for had ceased to exist, they didn't do as horses or cats or angle-worms would probably have done — turn back and get at something profitable — no, anxious as they had before been to see the miraculous fountain, they were as much as forty times as anxious now to see the place where it had used to be. There is no accounting for human beings.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", "slug": "a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/a-connecticut-yankee-in-king-arthurs-court" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur's_Court#Quotes", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:48" }, { "id": "2d7dbfe5-db89-412c-b47a-4c6f6c60be31", "slug": "human-beings-can", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/human-beings-can", "text": "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Mark Twain", "slug": "mark-twain", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain" }, "book": { "title": "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "slug": "the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" }, { "name": "evil", "slug": "evil", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/evil" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn#Chapter_33", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:47" }, { "id": "a07491ac-38a4-41c4-bce4-ff55c3733bfe", "slug": "my-most-important", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/dave-barry-does-japan/my-most-important", "text": "My most important finding, however, does not involve the differences between us and Japan; it involves the similarities. Because despite the gulf, physical and cultural, between the United States and Japan, both societies are, in the end, made up of people, and people everywhere- when you strip away their superficial differences- are crazy.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Dave Barry", "slug": "dave-barry", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry" }, "book": { "title": "Dave Barry Does Japan", "slug": "dave-barry-does-japan", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/dave-barry-does-japan" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 19, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "human nature", "slug": "human-nature", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/human-nature" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dave_Barry#Dave_Barry_Does_Japan_(1992)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:37:39" } ] }