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About this quote

What does it mean?
Humans are driven by two basic desires: acquiring resources and reproducing.
In plain terms
People mostly want to get things and have children.
What can you take from it?
Recognize basic human drives in behavior.

Where it applies

  • psychology
  • behavior analysis
  • economics

Putting it to work

  • understand motivation
  • design incentives
  • study instincts

Questions to consider

  • What drives your actions?
  • Is this view too reductive?

Another view

Many humans are motivated by altruism or curiosity too.

More from William Osler

  1. The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.

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  2. We can only instill principles, put the student in the right path, give him method, teach him how to study, and early to discern between essentials and non-ess…

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  3. The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism.

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