#human-nature

"Unfortunately for the good sense of mankind, the fact of their fallibility is far from carrying the weight in their practical judgement, which is always allowed to it in theory; for while every one well knows himself to be fallible, few think it necessary to take any precautions against their own fallibility."

"There is no limit to the amount of intelligence invested in ignorance when the need for illusion runs deep."

"It was not curiosity that killed the goose who laid the golden egg, but an insatiable greed that devoured common sense."

"The purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature."

"Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations."

"On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time."

"A person feels the pain in judicious proportion to the sensitive nature cherished in own world; otherwise there is enough fun, happiness, enjoyment and pleasure in life."

"I like living in my head because in there, everyone is kind and innocent. Once you start integrating yourself into the world, you realize that people are nasty, mean creatures. They're worse than zombies. People try to crush your soul and destroy your happiness, but zombies just want to have a little nibble of your brain."

"The biggest changes in a women's nature are brought by love; in man, by ambition"

"There is some kind of a sweet innocence in being human- in not having to be just happy or just sad- in the nature of being able to be both broken and whole, at the same time."

"Oh what a wonderful soul so bright inside you. Got power to heal the sun’s broken heart, power to restore the moon’s vision too."

"I don't know why people are afraid of lust. Then I can imagine that they are very afraid of me, for I have a great lust for everything. A lust for life, a lust for how the summer-heated street feels beneath my feet, a lust for the touch of another's skin on my skin...a lust for everything. I even lust after cake. Yes, I am very lusty and very scary."

"It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."

"Avoidable human misery is more often caused not so much by stupidity as by ignorance, particularly our ignorance about ourselves."

"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

"Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own."

"You can talk with someone for years, everyday, and still, it won't mean as much as what you can have when you sit in front of someone, not saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you feel like you have known the person for forever.... connections are made with the heart, not the tongue."

"All creation necessarily ends in this: Creators, powerless, fleeing from the things they have wrought."

"[On Schopenhauer in Black and White] Schopenhauer's views of love are flawed. Love can't be merely an illusion of the mind to aid in procreation, but the path to redemption for an otherwise violently selfish species. Past human greatness has proven that when challenged, love can overpower impulsive instinct, and in essence, the vilest aspects of our nature."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."