38 quotes about motives follow in order of popularity. Be sure to bookmark and share your favorites!

Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.

Oscar Wilde

There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.

Bertrand Russell

The characters think very fast and their motives change very quickly. If you pay attention it's pretty easy to follow.

Leslie Wheeler

The automobile is technologically more sophisticated than the bundling board, but the human motives in their uses are sometimes the same.

Charles M. Allen

My clients have been held up for public criticism for no reason at all — except political motives. If (the town's) answer is a bunch of denials, we'll be in court.

Jonathan Lovett

It talks very frankly about evaluating your motives for doing this, whether or not you're just postponing reality.

Margot Lester

What we believe to be the motives of our conduct are usually but the pretexts for it.

Miguel de Unamuno

At any cost, he was not going to be arrested, ... This is a case about one of the oldest motives in the world: to get away.

David Rubin

Their motives and intentions were good. They would never harm a child.

David Sherman

Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else; and primarily, morality consists in the motives, that is in the affections.

Archibald Alexander

When you decide whether or not to charge someone with a crime, you want to know as many facts as possible. You want to know what their motive is. ... You want to know their intent. ... If you are asking me what his motives were, I can't tell you.

Patrick Fitzgerald

Before impugning an opponent's motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments.

Sidney Hook

We like so much to hear people talk of us and of our motives, that we are charmed even when they abuse us.

Marie de Sevigne

The motives for the decisions coming out of the Kremlin are difficult for us to understand, although they are not always sinister.

Jim O'neill

They were probably so thrilled to beat up on the Post that they weren't too careful about what his motives were.

Jared Paul Stern

They would never have had the courage to carry through on that belief if it hadn't been kind of a fusion of these two great motives.

Geoffrey Robertson

Too great a preoccupation with motives (especially one's own motive) is liable to lead to too little concern for consequences.

Katherine Whitehorn

The inner thought coming from the heart represents the real motives and desires. These are the cause of action.

Raymond Holliwell

We would need to know more about the circumstances and motives behind the killings before we can evaluate what to do.

Antonella Notari

We can't be entirely absent from these areas. That absence is often filled by others who have nefarious motives.

Theresa Whelan

Ron did a good job. If he hadn't left, he would be working for us today. I don't know what his motives are in this issue.

Alan Burton

We started to do some interesting things, like linking crimes and motives using advanced statistics and modeling for investigative support.

Colleen Mccue

I get frustrated when everyone on all of this is trying to infuse political motives into these decision, ... I mean, lets get serious. We're not playing games here. This is life and death.

Richard Gephardt

I had my own motives.

Fawn Hall

Although it is hard at the moment to speak about motives, I cannot help but think this act is directed against Croatia's efforts to join the EU.

Ivo Sanader

I believe political motives were standing behind this decision.

Akhmed Zakayev

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

We are investigating the motives behind the blasts but apparently it coincided with the visit of Bush.

Salahuddin Haider

Although it is difficult at this moment to speak about the motives behind today's incident, I cannot help but think that it is directed against Croatia's efforts to join the European Union.

Ivo Sanader

If we are not honored with the games, that might be for the best. We don't want to mix motives here, and our motives are to be helpful.

Henry Cisneros

This was a boring story. The Courier had already run it. It was old news. She figured [Nunn] must have had ulterior motives.

Michael Hoffman

There's a lot of estrogen going on here. I'm not saying it's a good thing, either. Women are very catty and very calculated. They tend to have ulterior motives.

Mindy Segal

The political conspiracy would provide the motives for all the prosecution's witnesses to come and lie in this court.

Christopher Fernando

It is not the historian's business to be complimentary; it is his business to lay bare the facts of the case, as he understands them . . . dispassionately, impartially and without ulterior motives.

Lytton Strachey

I cannot prevent supporters and journalists alike from reaching their own conclusions as to my motives.

Ben Thatcher

Were looking into the Web sites and trying to determine what relevance there is, if any. In any murder investigation, we would look into any and all motives, and a financial motive is certainly one of them.

Emily Lagrassa

Anyone receiving tax advice should verify the motives and qualifications of those giving it, even those claiming to be charitable organizations.

Eileen J. O'connor