Veronica Roth Quotes

Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions.

Nobody acts purely selfishly.

At the heart of the message of the Savior of the world is a single, glorious, wonderful, still largely untried concept. In its simplest terms the message is that we should seek to overcome the selfishness we all seem to be born with, that we should overcome human nature and think of others before self.

I don't know why we choose to reach out to help another person, or why we decide that we can't, and withdraw and try to care only for ourselves, but I'm fascinated by that choice.

You can tell by the kindness of a dog how a human should be.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we're going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it's our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it's because we're focused on ourselves!

Human nature must have come much nearer perfection than it is now, or will be in many generations, to exclude from such a control prejudice, selfishness, ambition, and injustice.

There would be no supporting life were we to feel quite as poignantly for others as we do for ourselves.

People aren't universally heroic.

A person is born with feelings of envy and hate. If he gives way to them, they will lead him to violence and crime, and any sense of loyalty and good faith will be abandoned.

The individual is capable of both great compassion and great indifference. He has it within his means to nourish the former and outgrow the latter.

Hearts are strongest when they beat in response to noble ideals.

It has always seemed strange to me. The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success.

The major forces in human nature: self interest and caring for others

The act of feeling what you believe other people feel is morally corosive.... If we want to be good and caring people, if we want to make the world a better place, then we are better off withouit empathy.

Working with people who have a lot of heart is just the best. You can hire it, but you cannot teach it. It's either there or it's not.

I know it sounds corny, but I look for a girl that has a beautiful personality on the inside.

Most people are weak and frightened, and run from anything which could be upsetting. Most people, also, are takers and not givers.

Pity aims just as little at the pleasure of others as malice at the pain of others Per-Se.

Among the things you can give and still keep are your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.

Our age is pre-eminently the age of sympathy, as the eighteenth century was the age of reason. Our ideal men and women are they, whose sympathies have had the widest culture, whose aims do not end with self, whose philanthropy, though centrifugal, reaches around the globe.

Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self

Caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human.

Absorption in things other than self is the secret of a happy life.

Trust emerges when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.