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Hardwired Quotes

On nature, genes, and instinct.

These hardwired quotes explore how genes, environment, and instinct shape human behavior, a theme also central to Nature quotes.

When communism collapsed in 1989, the big story that had been hardwired into citizens of western countries - that of the global battle against a distant dark and evil force - came to an abrupt end.

Quotes by Adam Curtis

Genes are not simple triggers. No one is hardwired to commit murder or any other crime. Our actions are always the result of stupendously complex gene-environment interactions, and environment is likely to remain the more important influence by far.

Quotes by William Landay

The process of composition, messing around with paragraphs and trying to make really good prose, is hardwired into my personality.

Quotes by Rick Moody

A desire for social connection is fundamentally hardwired into our psychology, and so being deprived of it has devastating mental and physical consequences. Yet we live in a society which has become ever more fragmented and atomised.

Quotes by Owen Jones

Emotion Quotes

Games is like hardwired plumbing in the house of pop. It's not pop itself, its sort of like the behind-the-scenes arteries and capillaries of pop music.

Quotes by Oneohtrix Point Never

We're social animals. We've got to get along together. It's in our nature. We're hardwired that way.

Quotes by Nick Nolte

Equity and economic justice are now hardwired into all of our climate policies.

Quotes by Kevin de Leon

Oceans of emotion can be transmitted through a text message, an emoji sequence, and a winking semicolon, but humans are hardwired to respond to visuals.

Quotes by Jenna Wortham

I work very much on the principle that anything created by mankind has mischief and error hardwired into its inception.

Quotes by Jasper Fforde

Identity Quotes

We are neurologically hardwired to seek out people like ourselves. We start forming cliques as soon as we're old enough to know what acceptance feels like. We bond together based on anything that we can - music preference, race, gender,...

Quotes by iO Tillett Wright

I'm a dreamer, and I'm a perfectionist, and I love excellence, and that's hardwired in me. But when I was young, I lived in a space for a long time where I only felt insufficient.

Quotes by Christen Press

My premise is that there's something hardwired into our DNA, that we as a species came and evolved from caves and clans and tribes, and therefore, we as a species care more about the things that are local to us...

Quotes by Chris Milk

We're hardwired for connection. There's no arguing with the bioscience. But we can want it so badly we're trying to hot-wire it.

Quotes by Brene Brown

People on left have to better understand what are the benefits of inequality, and people on right have to understand better what the dangers are... It has to become properly hardwired into the American democratic debate in a way that...

Quotes by Angus Deaton

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 'hardwired' mean across these quotes?
It's used to describe behaviors and instincts baked into people, whether through genetics, social nature, or how humans instinctively respond to visual information.
Do these quotes suggest genes alone determine behavior?
No, one quote is explicit that no one is hardwired to commit a crime, stressing that actions come from complex gene-environment interactions rather than genes alone.
Is social behavior described as hardwired?
Yes, one quote frames humans as social animals that are hardwired to get along together, treating cooperation as part of basic human nature.
Do any quotes connect being hardwired to visuals or technology?
One does, noting that despite digital tools like text and emoji, humans remain hardwired to respond most strongly to visual information.
Where can I find more quotes about human nature?
Browse the Nature page for more quotes on instinct and human nature.

For more on what drives us instinctively, browse Instinct quotes, or see Identity quotes on nature versus choice.