"The most basic psychological distinction is in the sphere of our mental acts and in our overt behavior and is made by the line that divides the cognitive from the appetitive. Our desires and emotions or passions belong on the appetitive side of that line; our acts of knowing, understanding, and thinking on the cognitive side."

Rating:

  rate this quote
Topic: none  help us select a topic for this quote

More quotes from: Mortimer J. Adler

• "All books will become light in proportion as you find light in them. "
• "All love is sexual love. The mythology of love shows that this is an ancient ..."
• "Another example of heroic love is the American hero. "
• "Aristotle uses a mother's love for her child as the prime example of love or ..."
• "Ask others about themselves, at the same time, be on guard not to talk too ..."
• "Benevolent desires and giving represent the altruistic or unselfish aspect. "
• "Conjugal love, or the friendship of spouses, can persist even after sexual desires have weakened, ..."
• "Desire is the root of relationships based on utility or pleasure-desire for money, fame, or ..."
• "Education equals the discovery of who we are and what we are to be about ..."
• "Eliminating physical contacts of all sorts, what sort of union do we mean when we ..."
• "Erotic or sexual love can truly be love if it is not selfishly sexual or ..."
• "Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men. "
• "Freud's view is that all love is sexual in its origin or its basis. Even ..."
• "Friendship is a very taxing and arduous form of leisure activity. "
• "Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase ..."
• "I find the selectivity of erotic love - the choice of this man or this ..."
• "I wonder if most people ever ask themselves why love is connected with reproduction. And ..."
• "If one wants another only for some self-satisfaction, usually in the form of sensual pleasure, ..."
• "If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot ..."
• "In Aristotelian terms, the good leader must have ethos, pathos and logos. The ethos is ..."
• "In English we must use adjectives to distinguish the different kinds of love for which ..."
• "In every instance of acquisitive desire we are impelled to seek something for ourselves-to get ..."

• "In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of ..."
• "It is important to the child to be admired and respected, shown consideration and courtesy-and ..."
• "It is love rather than sexual lust or unbridled sexuality if, in addition to the ..."
• "Love can be unselfish, in the sense of being benevolent and generous, without being selfless. "
• "Love consists in giving without getting in return; in giving what is not owed, what ..."
• "Love without conversation is impossible. "
• "Loving someone may involve more than goodwill toward them-wishing to benefit them or give to ..."
• "Men value things in three ways: as useful, as pleasant or sources of pleasure, and ..."
• "Most of the great stories of love-in novels and plays-are stories of erotic love. "
• "My chief reason for choosing Christianity was because the mysteries were incomprehensible. What's the point ..."
• "Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of ..."
• "Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of ..."
• "One of the aims of sexual union is procreation - the creation by reproduction of ..."
• "One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was ..."
• "Proper self-love is inseparable from the true love of another. In fact, it is its ..."
• "The Greeks and Romans had different names for the different kinds of love. The Greeks ..."
• "The love which moves the world, according to common Christian belief, is God's love and ..."
• "The need for love is one of the deepest needs in human nature, because we ..."
• "The philosopher ought never to try to avoid the duty of making up his mind. "
• "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing ..."
• "The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing ..."

• "The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea. "
• "The ultimate end of education is happiness or a good human life, a life enriched ..."
• "Theories of love are found in the works of scientists, philosophers, and theologians. "
• "There are theories of taxation. So there are theories of love. "
• "There is no mutuality in ordinary desire: the hungry man wants to eat the food, ..."
• "There is only one situation I can think of in which men and women make ..."
• "Think how different human societies would be if they were based on love rather than ..."
• "To avoid being drawn into the meshes of love is not so hard a the ..."
• "Ultimately, we wish the joy of perfect union with the person we love. "
• "Unless we love and are loved, each of us is alone, each of us is ..."
• "Unlike many of my contemporaries, I never write books for my fellow professors to read. ..."
• "We acknowledge but one motive - to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever ..."
• "We also say we love our freedom, which is something we certainly need but do ..."
• "We are selfish when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good for ourselves. ..."
• "We love even when our love is not requited. "
• "When children, or adults as well, say that they love pleasant things to eat or ..."
• "When it becomes necessary to move into the imaginary world without sex, I'll give you ..."
• "When sex comes first, and especially if it remains primary, then the love that is ..."
• "When we ask for love, we don't ask others to be fair to us-but rather ..."
• "When young children say they love their parents, they do not mean that they have ..."
• "You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing ..."