... you must not expect to find that people understand what they do.

Real motives, however seemingly apparent, are still hidden.

We would often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives which produced them.

In the motive lies the good or ill.

The spirit from which we act is the principal matter.

Man knows so little about his fellows. In his eyes all men or women act upon what he believes would motivate him if we were mad enough to do what that other man or woman is doing.

We often do not know ourselves the grounds On which we act, though plain to others.

The Light of Lights Looks always on the motive, not the deed, The Shadow of Shadows on the deed alone.

Men can be stimulated by hope or driven by fear, but the hope and the fear must be vivid and immediate if they are to be effective without producing weariness.

We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all of the motives which produced them.

A good intention clothes itself with sudden power. When a god wishes to ride, any chip or pebble will bud and shoot out winged feet, and serve him for a horse.

He advised people to have intellect, and to look beneath what he called the epithelium of things, though he did discourage scrutiny of his own motives.

Man sees your actions, but God your motives.

Tis e'er the wont of simple folk to prize the deed and o'erlook the motive, and of learned folk to discount the deed and lay open the soul of the doer.

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

A man's acts are usually right, but his reasons seldom are.

All that we do is done with an eye to something else.