quotations about instinct
Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of all the rest. By the very act of listening to one rather than to others we have already prejudged the case.
C. S. LEWIS
The Abolition of Man
What man calls instinct in a beast is more excellent than reason in man.
THEODORE ZWINGER
attributed, Day's Collacon
That which is reason in man is instinct in animals.
J. C. WOLFF
attributed, Day's Collacon
An instinct is an agent which performs blindly and ignorantly a work of intelligence and knowledge.
SIR W. HAMILTON
attributed, Day's Collacon
There is no instinct in nature without an object or purpose.
KAROLINE WOLZOGEN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Gut instincts are always so hit and miss. When it hits, you're like, "Wow, I totally knew that was gonna happen!" But when you miss, it's like, "I can't believe I was so stupid!"
CHESTER BENNINGTON
"The Lost Interview", Revolver, 2001
Intuition is a suspicious instinct that makes a woman distrust the man she trusts.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
As man cultivates his intellectual faculties, he learns to mistrust his instincts.
JULIUS FURST
attributed, Day's Collacon
One could only act on instinct, grab hold of an intuited perfect moment, and spring into action.
JAMES LUCENO
Darth Plagueis
Every creature hath instinct.
JEREMY TAYLOR
attributed, Day's Collacon
You've got the killer instincts of a houseplant.
JOSEPHINE ANGELINI
Starcrossed
Good instincts usually tell you what to do long before your head has figured it out.
MICHAEL BURKE
attributed, 100 Ways to Develop Your Mind: The Psychology of the Mind
To what extent Instinct is implanted in animals in consequence of the education received by many generations of their predecessors, is a point to which the attention of the curious might be profitably directed.
RICHARD WHATELY
On Instinct
The spirit finds a way to be born.
Instinct seeks for ways to survive.
TOBA BETA
Betelgeuse Incident
Instinct is untaught ability.
ALEXANDER BAIN
The Senses and the Intellect
Instinct is both the inferior and superior of reason.
C. WINTRINGHAM
attributed, Day's Collacon
Instinct and reason are the difference between man and the brute.
GEORG BENEDICT WINER
attributed, Day's Collacon
'Tis thus we heed no instincts but our own,
Believe no evil, till the evil's done.
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE
Fables
Men envy the beasts the instinct which guides them.
ST. PIERRE
attributed, Day's Collacon
Like birds of passage, the instincts drift the soul adventurously beyond the horizon of sensible things, as if intent on convoying it to the mother country from whence it had flown.
AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT
Table Talk