“The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct.”

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 172

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct." by John Lancaster Spalding?
John Lancaster Spalding photo
John Lancaster Spalding 202
Catholic bishop 1840–1916

Related quotes

Carl von Clausewitz photo
Erica Jong photo

“The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free of ulterior motives. There is no power game. The man is not "taking" and the woman is not "giving."”

No one is attempting to cuckold a husband or humiliate a wife. No one is trying to prove anything or get anything out of anyone. The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn. And I have never had one.
Fear of Flying (1973)

Johann Gottlieb Fichte photo
Thomas More photo

“The increasing influence of the Bible is marvelously great, penetrating everywhere. It carries with it a tremendous power of freedom and justice guided by a combined force of wisdom and goodness.”

Thomas More (1478–1535) English Renaissance humanist

Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 34.

Wassily Kandinsky photo

“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”

Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) Russian painter

Source: Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Roger Joseph Boscovich photo
Rudolf Rocker photo

“The deeper we trace the political influences in history, the more are we convinced that the "will to power" has up to now been one of the strongest motives in the development of human social forms. The idea that all political and social events are but the result of given economic conditions and can be explained by them cannot endure careful consideration.”

Source: Nationalism and Culture (1937), Ch. 1 "The Insufficiency of Economic Materialism"
Context: The deeper we trace the political influences in history, the more are we convinced that the "will to power" has up to now been one of the strongest motives in the development of human social forms. The idea that all political and social events are but the result of given economic conditions and can be explained by them cannot endure careful consideration. That economic conditions and the special forms of social production have played a part in the evolution of humanity everyone knows who has been seriously trying to reach the foundations of social phenomena. This fact was well known before Marx set out to explain it in his manner. A whole line of eminent French socialists like Saint–Simon, Considerant, Louis Blanc, Proudhon and many others had pointed to it in their writings, and it is known that Marx reached socialism by the study of these very writings.

Eduard Bernstein photo

“The increase of social wealth is not accompanied by a diminishing number of capitalist magnates, but by an increasing number of capitalists of all degrees.”

Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932) German politician

Source: "Evolutionary Socialism" (1899) https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1899/evsoc/index.htm, Chapter II, The Economic Development of Modern Society

Ma Xiaowei photo

“At present (26 January 2020), the rate of development of the (COVID-19) epidemic is accelerating. I am afraid that it will continue for some time, and the number of cases may increase.”

Ma Xiaowei (1959) Chinese politician

Ma Xiaowei (2020) cited in " Wuhan Coronavirus Can Be Infectious Before People Show Symptoms, Official Claims https://www.sciencealert.com/wuhan-coronavirus-can-be-infectious-before-people-show-symptoms-official-claims" on Science Alert, 26 January 2020.

Jan Tinbergen photo

Related topics