People protect what they love.
—Jacques Yves Cousteau
Instinct is a marvelous thing. It can neither be explained nor ignored.
—Agatha Christie in The Mysterious Affair at Styles
To live is like to love—all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
—Samuel Butler
He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
—Saki
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.
—Bertrand Russell
The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes by instinct.
—Cicero
It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life, and if you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your deepest instinct, then your life will be safe, expedient and thin.
—Katharine Butler Hathaway
There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.
—Malcolm Gladwell
Truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.
—Malcolm Gladwell
Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts.
—Rita Mae Brown
Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun.
—Don Marquis
It's funny what love can do to a person. It strips them of everything, even their instincts. It creates a new reality for you to adhere to, a new world where you break the rules just to keep the love intact.
—Karina Halle in On Every Street
To destroy is still the strongest instinct in nature.
—Max Beerbohm
The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason.
—Charles Darwin