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Quote#Wisdom

It is not the motive, properly speaking, that determines the working…

Quote byJames McCosh · 1811–1894

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 420..

English (original)

It is not the motive, properly speaking, that determines the working of the will; but it is the will that imparts strength to the motive. As Coleridge says: " It is the man that makes the motive, and not the motive the man."

— James McCosh

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