He never does a proper thing without giving an improper reason for it. (Quote by - George Bernard Shaw)

All impediments in fancy's course Are motives of more fancy. (Quote by - William Shakespeare)

How often in the halls of legislation does eloquence unmask corruption, expose intrigue, and overthrow tyranny! In the cause of mercy it is omnipotent. It is bold in the consciousness of its superiority, fearless and unyielding in the purity of its motives. All opposition it destroys; all power it defies. (Quote by - Henry Melville)

Never judge a man's actions until you know his motives

Never ascribe to an opponent motives meaner than your own.(Quote by - James Matthew Barrie)

My actions to promote peace, the mediation missions which I carried out during many conflicts, which very often occurred between brothers of the same country, are not driven by any ulterior motives or any calculations based on personal ambitions. (Quote by - Omar Bongo)

Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers. (Quote by - Baltasar Gracian)

We like so much to hear people talk of us and of our motives, that we are charmed even when they abuse us. (Quote by - Marie de Sevigne)

This unusual and highly successful species spends a great deal of time examining his higher motives and an equal amount of time ignoring his fundamental ones. (Quote by - Desmond Morris)

There seems to be a kind of order in the universe, in the movement of the stars and the turning of the earth and the changing of the seasons, and even in the cycle of human life. But human life itself is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own rights and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own.(Quote by - Katherine Anne Porter)

We judge ourselves by our motives and others by their actions. (Quote by - Dwight Morrow)

Motives and purposes are in the brain and heart of man. Consequences are in the world of fact. (Quote by - Henry Geaye)

We are all shot through with enough motives to make a massacre, any day of the week that we want to give them their head. (Quote by - Jacob Bronowski)

But behavior in the human being is sometimes a defense, a way of concealing motives and thoughts, as language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.(Quote by - Abraham Maslow)

Every woman is supposed to have the same set of motives, or else to be a monster. (Quote by - George Eliot)

We would often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives which produced them. (Quote by - Fran ois Duc de La Rochefoucauld)

The most heinous and the most cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives

No period of history has ever been great or ever can be that does not act on some sort of high, idealistic motives, and idealism in our time has been shoved aside, and we are paying the penalty for it. (Quote by - Alfred North Whitehead)

one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science isescape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopelessdreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. Afinely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into theworld of objective perception and thought. (Quote by - Albert Einstein)

However much I may sympathise with and admire worthy motives, I am an uncompromising opponent of violent methods even to serve the noblest of causes. (Quote by - Mahatma Gandhi)

We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive. (Quote by - Lord Byron)

We can only write well about our sins because it is too difficult to recall a virtuous act or even whether it was the result of good or evil motives. (Quote by - Edward Dahlberg)

We would often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives which produced them (Quote by - Fran ois de la Rochefoucauld)

Even if people are suspicious of the motives I think that learning and speaking two languages can only be a good thing for people. (Quote by - Stephen Harper)

Social improvement is attained more readily by a concern with the quality of results than with the purity of motives. (Quote by - Eric Hoffer)