Writing is like a “lust,” or like “scratching when you itch.” Writing comes as a result of a very strong impulse, and when it does come, I for one must get it out.
Impulse Quotes
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.
The reformative effect of punishment is a belief that dies hard, chiefly I think, because it is so satisfying to our sadistic impulses.
Reason only controls individuals after emotion and impulse have lost their impetus.
Mistrust first impulses, they are always good.
My deepest impulses are optimistic; an attitude that seems to me as spiritually necessary and proper as it is intellectually suspect.
Vanity as an impulse has without doubt been of far more benefit to civilization than modesty has ever been.
In arriving at moral resolution, people’s first impulse is to put their own needs and desires ahead of ethical commitments. But once they have had time to reflect on their choices, especially if they have had time to reflect on their choices, especially if the larger society provides moral support, the ethical dimension asserts itself, […]
The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.
