“If by motivation we mean whatever it is that causes someone to follow a particular course of action, then every action is motivated — by definition. But in most human behavior the relation between motives and action is not simple; it is mediated by a whole chain of events and surrounding conditions. We observe a man scratching his arm. His motive (or goal)? To relieve an itch.”

—  Herbert A. Simon , book Administrative Behavior

Source: 1940s-1950s, Administrative Behavior, 1947, p. 265.

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Herbert A. Simon 58
American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and p… 1916–2001

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“Actually, there are never motives behind actions. All actions are fixed. What we call motives evidently are rationalizations by the helpless observing consciousness, which is intelligent enough to smell an event coming—and, since it cannot avert the event, instead cooks up reasons for wanting it to happen…or ascribes it to the malice of God or man.”

James Blish book The Quincunx of Time

Source: The Quincunx of Time (1973), Chapter 8, “The Courtship of Posi and Nega” (p. 84; ellipsis in the original)

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“Action isn’t just the effect of motivation; it’s also the cause of it.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 7, “Failure Is the Way Forward” (p. 160)

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“If a pitcher who wishes to retire a batter (motivation) throws a burning fastball (action) directly into the wind (environmental influence), then the observer should conclude that the pitcher has a particularly strong arm (ability). If a batter tries to hit that ball (motivation) but fails (action), then the observer should conclude that the batter lacked coordination (ability) or was blinded by the sun”

Daniel T. Gilbert (1957) American psychologist

environmental influence
Source: "Ordinary personology." 1998, p. 96; as cited in Malle (2011, 75)

Sarojini Naidu photo

“We want deeper sincerity of motive, a greater courage in speech and earnestness in action.”

Sarojini Naidu (1879–1949) Indian politician, governor of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh from 1947 to 1949

Best Inspirational quotes by Sarojini Naidu, Happy Wishes https://happywishes20.com/quotes/best-inspirational-quotes-by-sarojini-naidu/,

François de La Rochefoucauld photo

“We should often be ashamed of our very best actions if the world only saw the motives which caused them.”

François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims

http://books.google.com/books?id=vQEzAAAAMAAJ&q=%22We+should+often+be+ashamed+of+our+very+best+actions+if+the+world+only+saw+the+motives+which+caused+them%22&pg=PA47#v=onepage
Nous aurions souvent honte de nos plus belles actions, si le monde voyoit tous les motifs qui les produisent.
http://books.google.com/books?id=X8akMrBxYegC&q=%22Nous%22+%22aurions+souvent+honte+de+nos+plus+belles+Actions+si+le+monde+voyoit+tous+les+motifs+qui%22+%22les+produisent%22&pg=PA232#v=onepage
Maxim 409.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)

“When evaluating someone’s actions or temperament, always examine motive for it is the essence of what and who they are. One’s actions are in direct correlation with the conscience.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1992

Eugéne Ionesco photo

“People always try to find base motives behind every good action.”

Eugéne Ionesco (1909–1994) Romanian playwright

The Paris Review interview (1984)
Context: People always try to find base motives behind every good action. We are afraid of pure goodness and of pure evil.

Patañjali photo

“Realization is experienced by making the Lord the motive of all actions.”

Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises

§ 2.45
Yoga Sutras of Patañjali

Carl Schmitt photo

“The specific political distinction to which political actions and motives can be reduced is that between friend and enemy.”

Carl Schmitt book The Concept of the Political

The Concept of the Political (1927)

Henry Nettleship photo

“The historian is not only a lover of truth, not only a chronicler of events. These, indeed, he must be at his peril, but how much more! Insight into human nature—and this implies the rarest knowledge and finest sympathy of which man is capable; the power of tracing the delicate relation between deed and motive, and the pressure of action upon circumstance and circumstance upon action; knowledge of the world, in short, in the highest sense of that expression.”

Henry Nettleship (1839–1893) British schoolteacher

Lectures and Essays https://archive.org/details/lecturesandessa00havegoog (1895), p. 245

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