#Motives Quotes

“We would be ashamed of our best behavior if the people knew the motives of our behaving so.”

“There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive.”

“Malice will always find bad motives for good actions. - Shall we therefore never do good?”

“Pure motives can never justify impure or violent action.”

“Who is sure of their own motives can in confidence advance or retreat.”

“It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.”

“The value the world sets upon motives is often grossly unjust and inaccurate.”

“All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery.”

“Behind many acts that are thought ridiculous there lie wise and weighty motives.”

“We should often blush for our very best actions, if the world did but see all the motives upon which they were done.”

“We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.”

“We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.”

“We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.”

“Numberless arts appear foolish whose secret motives are most wise and weighty.”

“I learned then that practically no one in the world is entirely bad or entirely good, and that motives are often more important than actions.”

“Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!”

“Humans are very seldom either totally sincere or totally hypocritical. Their moods change, their motives are mixed, and they are often quite mistaken as to what their motives are.”

“When one has extensively pondered about men, as a career or as a vocation, one sometimes feels nostalgic for primates. At least they do not have ulterior motives.”