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God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them, any more than a boat without steam, or a balloon without gas.—H. W. BEECHER
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Motives are better than actions. Men drift into crime. Of evil they do more than they contemplate, and of good they contemplate more than they do.—C. N. BOVEE
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Our best conjectures, as to the true spring of actions, are very uncertain; the actions themselves are all we know from history. That Caesar was murdered by twenty-four conspirators, I doubt not; but I very much doubt whether their love of liberty was the sole cause.—LORD CHESTERFIELD
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Iago's soliloquy, the motive-hunting of a motiveless malignity—how awful it is!—COLERIDGE
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Motives imply weakness, and the existence of evil and temptation. Angelic natures would act from impulse alone.—COLERIDGE
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The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show.—C. C. COLTON
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We must not inquire too curiously into motives. They are apt to become feeble in the utterance: the aroma is mixed with the grosser air. We must keep the germinating grain away from the light.—GEORGE ELIOT
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A man's acts are usually right, but his reasons seldom are.—ELBERT HUBBARD
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The morality of an action depends upon the motive from which we act.—SAMUEL JOHNSON
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It is motive alone that gives character to the actions of men.—LA BRUYERE
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However brilliant an action, it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great and good motive.—LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, Maxims
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We should often have reason to be ashamed of our most brilliant actions if the world could see the motives from which they spring.—LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, Maxims
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One will rarely err if extreme actions be ascribed to vanity, ordinary actions to habit, and mean actions to fear.—NIETZSCHE, Human, All Too Human
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He that does good for good's sake, seeks neither praise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.—WILLIAM PENN
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The noblest motive is the public good.—VERGIL
