Self-interest lies behind all that men do, forming the important motive for all their actions; this rule has never deceived me - Marquis de Sade
Your love for me is transparent, no hidden agenda, no ulterior motive. - Euginia Herlihy
Never question another man's motive. His wisdom, yes, but not his motives. - Dwight D. Eisenhower
An external motive can never Inspire you. It will only Motivate you to move, but you will soon stop. Seek Inspiration! - RVM
Because we are saturated with life, because we are human, our strongest motive is life, humanity; and the stronger the motive back of the line the stronger, and therefore more beautiful, the line will be. - Robert Henri
As an artist, motive means opportunity - Siren Waroe
In so far as virus-makers have any discernible motive, they presumably feel vaguely anarchistic. I appeal to them: do you really want to pave the way for a new fat-cat profession ['software-doctors']? If not, stop playing at silly memes, and put your modest programming talents to better use.
True patriotism sometimes requires of men to act exactly contrary, at one period, to that which it does at another, and the motive which impels themthe desire to do rightis precisely the same. - Robert E. Lee
Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away... Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition. - Robert Henri
Exile, for no other motive than ease, would be the last defeat, with no seed of future victory in it. - Lois McMaster Bujold
Only the search for truth is valid, the desire for wisdom the motive. The method is assimilation, not study. - Idries Shah
If I give with the motive to get, regardless of the degree to which that motive besets me, I will walk away impoverished and I will leave those to whom I have given just as impoverished as I have now found myself. - Craig D. Lounsbrough
Self-defense was an accepted motive for murder. - Farrah Naseem
Be cautious of every motive behind any action, because not every smile is genuine; sometimes it's just a grin. - Gugu Mona
One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community. - Albert Einstein
Whatever touches the nerves of motive, whatever shifts man's moral position, is mightier than steam, or calorie, or lightening.
The motive of man depicts his soul. - Lailah Gifty Akita
Your motive influences your motion. - Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
Fie, fie upon her! There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out at every joint and motive of her body. - William Shakespeare
Though a good motive cannot sanction a bad action, a bad motive will always vitiate a good action. In common and trivial matters we may act without motives, but in momentous ones the most careful deliberation is wisdom.
Human desire is the criterion of all truth and all good. Truth does not lie beyond humanity, but is one of the products of the human mind and feeling. There is really nothing to fear. The motive of fear in religion is base... - D.H. Lawrence
For me, boviscopophobia (=the morbid fear of being seen as bovine) is an even stronger motive than semi-agoraphobia for staying on the ship when we're in port. - David Foster Wallace
People who live according to the pure code of honor are not governed by the profit motive; they are governed by the thymotic urge, the quest for recognition. They seek the sort of glory that can be won only by showing strength in confrontation with death. - David Brooks
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero, but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. It does much more than that, it tells us the truth about its readers; and, oddly enough, it tells us this all the more the more cynical and immoral be the motive of its manufacture. - G.K. Chesterton
Jealousy is a detestable motive. - Lailah Gifty Akita
The larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. - Arthur Conan Doyle
An external motive can never Inspire you. It will only Motivate you to move, but you will soon stop. Seek Inspiration!- - RVM
I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God's work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God. - Henry Martyn
However brilliant an action, it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great motive. - Francois de La Rochefoucauld
Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. - Eric Hoffer
The deeds and motive of man define his personality. - Lailah Gifty Akita
Anyone can get angry, but to do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, and in the right way, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy. - Aristotle
Motivation is desire or inspiration. A motive is a reason. What's your reason? - Rob Liano
America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose. - Herbert Hoover
The motive of man is a mystery. - Lailah Gifty Akita
God knows the motive of every man. - Lailah Gifty Akita
Every time you read into something you miss the soul, while searching for the motive. - Shannon L. Alder
Actions that exemplify the limitations of a singular devotion to the profit motive, also draw a troublesome distinction between what is legal and what is moral. - Usman W. Chohan
POCKET, n. The cradle of motive and the grave of conscience. In woman this organ is lacking; so she acts without motive, and her conscience, denied burial, remains ever alive, confessing the sins of others. - Ambrose Bierce
If three steps are taken without any other motive than the desire to obey God, those three steps are miraculous; they are equally so whether they take place on dry land or on water. - Simone Weil
A business fails when motive becomes more important than the trust. - Thiruman Archunan
Love isn’t about social status or age; it’s about two people connecting and appreciating each other with no hidden motive. - Abdulazeez Henry Musa
Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.
What was Dr. Mera's motive for murder? I don't need to tell that to a writer of detective novels such as yourself. You know well enough yourself that even without a motive, a murderer lives to kill. - Rampo Edogawa
Would we not do well to have the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate ourselves above our brother and outdo another? - Ezra Taft Benson