Mercy Otis Warren Quotes

Humans are not really very humane.

Nature is cruel but we don't have to be

Human nature is complex. Even if we do have inclinations toward violence, we also have inclination to empathy, to cooperation, to self-control.

Cruelty is a part of nature, at least of human nature, but it is the one thing that seems unnatural to us.

People interest me a lot: why we are kind, why we are cruel, how we learn the difference, what makes us act in ways contrary to those we've been socialized with.

The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be.

I was taught very early on how you treat people is actually what matters.

Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey.

I think that if people are instructed about anything, it should be about the nature of cruelty. And about why people behave so cruelly to each other. And what kind of satisfactions they derive from it. And why there is always a cost, and a price to be paid.

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

A rude nature is worse than a brute nature by so much more as man is better than a beast: and those that are of civil natures and genteel dispositions are as much nearer to celestial creatures as those that are rude and cruel are to devils.

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.

Humankind would improve if we concentrated less on being human and more on being kind.

We are not by nature cruel.

I know it's sappy, but I bet there's a market for civility and niceness out there that, while probably not as titillating as a junkyard scrap between shirtless adversaries, it'd sure be healthier.

I believe people are wonderful. The vast majority of people have never hurt anybody in their lives.

People are nicer than economists give us credit for. The economists cannot understand why people would work long and hard to clean up a community after a hurricane. … Most economists don’t have any interest in or understanding of psychology.

There's a couple of things you shouldn't do to other humans and you shouldn't say to other humans that Khal Drogo does.

I don't like how cruel humans can be.

People generally are just really nice to each other. You know, the good people.

Everyone can be rude, and everyone can be kind.

He can kill anything for need but he could not even hurt a feeling for pleasure.

Man is kind enough when he is not excited by religion

As human beings we're so cynical, so uncompassionate.

I'm a big believer in human nature.