Unchecked Impulses Quotes

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs. There's not one of them which won't make us into devils if we set it up as an absolute guide. You might think love of humanity in general was safe, but it isn't. If you leave out justice you'll find yourself breaking agreements and faking evidence in trials "for the sake of humanity" and become in the end a cruel and treacherous man.

The unfed mind devours itself.

The savage in man is never quite eradicated.

… all raw emotion and little knowledge

One effect of an individualistic culture that's poor at instilling mutual respect is that people jump more quickly to anger or violence.

I was born with a great gift, and sometimes with that comes a destructive streak.

I was aware that the things that I did bothered people, but that only spurred me on even more.

Courage without conscience is a wild beast.

It's just like my dream to shoot things with no consequences.

The lawless in spirit soon become the lawless in practice.

My mind is led astray by every faint rustle.

When all run by common consent into vice, none appear to do so.

Denied anything ardently desired, the individual or state will argue and parley just so long - then, if the impelling motive be sufficiently great, will cast aside every rule and break down every acquired inhibition, plunging viciously after the object wished; all the more fantastically savage because of previous repression.

When you've got a mask on, you're kind of invincible. It's almost like nobody can see you, and you can do what you want to do without consequences.

I was very immature when I was young, and for me there was no balance. Everything was just all or nothing.

I did a terrible job of composing myself. I was a spoiled brat from Long Island who benefitted from the energy of New York.