Disposition Quotes

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  I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.

  Martha Washington

  Inspirational, Motivational, Happiness

  123 Copy quote

• Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Positive, Happiness

  Benjamin Franklin (2004). “Poor Richard's Almanack”, p.279, Barnes & Noble Publishing

  224 Copy quote

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  He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

  Samuel Johnson

  Change, Positive, Attitude

  Samuel Johnson (1851). “The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works”, p.41

  80 Copy quote

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• A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.

  William Arthur Ward

  Positive, Happiness, Appreciation

  112 Copy quote

• Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different.

  Katherine Mansfield

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  "Talks with Katherine Mansfield at Fontainebleau" by A. R. Orage, The Century Magazine, November 1924.

  78 Copy quote

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• Attitude is greatly shaped by influence and association.

  Jim Rohn

  Attitude, Entrepreneur, Mind

  FaceBook post by Jim Rohn from Apr 19, 2017

  67 Copy quote

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• A good disposition is a virtue in itself, and it is lasting; the burden of the years cannot depress it, and love that is founded on it endures to the end.

  Ovid

  Happiness, Beauty, Depressing

  Ovid (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Ovid (Illustrated)”, p.290, Delphi Classics

  16 Copy quote

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• He who is of a calm and happy nature, will hardly feel the pressure of age

  Plato

  Optimism, Age, Pressure

  Plato (2016). “The Republic”, p.211, Xist Publishing

  130 Copy quote

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• Nothing in human nature is so God-like as the disposition to do good to our fellow-creatures.

  Samuel Richardson

  Human Nature, Humans, Creatures

  8 Copy quote

• The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.

  James F. Cooper

  Freedom, Abuse, Democracy

  "The American Democrat: Or, Hints on the Social and Civic Relations of the United States of America". Book by James F. Cooper (Conclusion, p. 191), 1838.

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• The technical is not just the machinery. The technical is a disposition to life.

  Leon Kass

  Machinery

  46 Copy quote

• Will power is only the tensile strength of one's own disposition. One cannot increase it by a single ounce.

  Cesare Pavese

  Power, Free Will, Single Relationship

  Cesare Pavese, Alma Elizabeth Murch (1961). “This Business of Living”, p.72, Transaction Publishers

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• A rude nature is worse than a brute nature by so much more as man is better than a beast: and those that are of civil natures and genteel dispositions are as much nearer to celestial creatures as those that are rude and cruel are to devils.

  Margaret Cavendish

  Men, Rude, Devil

  12 Copy quote

• Character in a saint means the disposition of Jesus Christ persistently manifested.

  Oswald Chambers

  Jesus, Character, Mean

  Oswald Chambers (2014). “Biblical Psychology: Christ-Centered Solutions for Daily Problems”, p.164, Discovery House

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• But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.

  Edward Gibbon

  History, Instruction, Efficacy

  Edward Gibbon, Henry Hart Milman (1840). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.79

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• The desire to annoy no one, to harm no one, can equally well be the sign of a just as of an anxious disposition.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Desire, Annoying, Harm

  21 Copy quote

• [F]alsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Heart, President, Tongue

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, correspondence, and miscellanies from the papers of T. Jefferson”, p.286

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• No single person, including the President of the United States, should ever be given the power to make a medical decision for potentially millions of Americans. Freedom over one's physical person is the most basic freedom of all, and people in a free society should be sovereign over their own bodies. When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies.

  Ron Paul

  Freedom, Acceptance, Rights

  86 Copy quote

• The wearer of smiles and the bearer of a kindly disposition needs no introduction, but is welcome anywhere.

  Orison Swett Marden

  Needs, Welcome, Introduction

  18 Copy quote

• You are not responsible for the disposition you are born with, but you are responsible for the one you die with.

  Maltbie Davenport Babcock

  Responsible, Born, Dies

  Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1901). “Thoughts for Every-day Living from the Spoken and Written Words of Maltbie Davenport Babcock”

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• All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.

  Rebecca West

  Good Life, Fiction, Biographies

  7 Copy quote

• I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experianence that the greater part of our happiness or misary depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances; we carry the seeds of the one, or the other about with us, in our minds, wherever we go.

  Martha Washington

  Happiness, Mind, Cheerful

  "The life of Washington, in the Form of an Autobiography". Book by Jared Sparks, August 5, 1840.

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• But a good patriot, and a true politician, always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. A disposition, to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.

  Edmund Burke

  Country, Taken, Together

  Edmund Burke (1852). “The Works and Correspondance of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke”, p.280

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• Understanding a theory has, indeed, much in common with understanding a human personality. We may know or understand a man's system of dispositions pretty well; that is to say, we may be able to predict how he would act in a number of different situations. But since there are infinitely many possible situations, of infinite variety, a full understanding of a man's dispositions does not seem to be possible.

  Karl Popper

  Science, Men, Numbers

  10 Copy quote

• Happiness is an endowment and not an acquisition. It depends more upon temperament and disposition than environment.

  John James Ingalls

  Happiness, Acquisition, Environment

  John James Ingalls (1902). “A Collection of the Writings of John James Ingalls: Essays, Addresses, and Orations”

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