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Who then is free? The one who wisely is lord of themselves, who neither poverty, death or captivity terrify, who is strong to resist his appetites and shun horrors, and is complete in themselves smooth and round like a globe. Horace
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. Albert Pike
Nothing resembles selfishness more closely than self-respect. George Sand, Indiana
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith, Stop the Madness, interview Toronto Globe and Mail 6 July 2002
The Selfish Gene never made claims about the selfishness of human psychology ... It’s the selfish gene but not the selfish individual. Richard Dawkins, BBC Thinking Aloud
She [Thatcher] legitimised the idea of selfishness. Neil Kinnock
Next to selfishness the principle cause which makes Life unsatisfactory is want of mental cultivation. John Stuart Mill
I only care about me – me and mine. Key Largo 1948 starring Humphrey Bogart & Edward G Robinson & Lauren Bacall & Lionel Barrymore & Claire Trevor & Thomas Gomez & Harry Lewis & John Rodney & Marc Lawrence et al, director John Huston, Frank
Selfish to the end, aren’t you? Gone with the Wind 1939 starring Clark Gable & Vivien Leigh & Leslie Howard & Olivia de Haviland & Thomas Mitchell & Barbara Mitchell & Evelyn Keyes & Ann Rutherford & George Reeves & Fred Crane & Hattie McDaniel & Alicia Rhett et al, director Victor Fleming, Rhett to Scarlett
Now the consequences, the disruptive effects of such self-centredness, such egocentric desires, are tragic. And we see these every day. At first, it leads to frustration and disillusionment and unhappiness at many points. For usually when people are self-centered, they are self-centered because they are seeking attention, they want to be admired and this is the way they set out to do it. But in the process, because of their self-centredness, they are not admired; they are mawkish and people don’t want to be bothered with them. And so the very thing they seek, they never get. And they end up frustrated and unhappy and disillusioned. Martin Luther King junior
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. Gustave Flaubert
I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best. Marilyn Monroe
Selfishness is the most constant of human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to sporadic outbursts sweep away the heaped-up wrongs of centuries; but they languish at times, while the love of self-works on ceaselessly, unwearyingly, burrowing always at the very root of life, and heaping up fresh wrongs for other centuries to sweep away. Charles W Chesnutt
Oh, no one can deny
That Arnold is less selfish that I.
He married a woman to stop her getting away
And she’s there all day ... Philip Larkin, Self’s the Man
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Oscar Wilde
The world says: ‘You have needs – satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don’t hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more.’ This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Selfish – a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice. George Eliot
Selfishness is a bad habit. That’s why I always rationally think through my decisions to act without regard for others. Bauvard, Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic
Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race. William E Gladstone
I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child), I was spoilt by my parents, who, though good themselves (my father, particularly, all that was benevolent and amiable), allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my own family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own. Such I was, from eight to eight and twenty; and such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
There was a kind of cold hearted selfishness on both sides, which mutually attracted them; and they sympathised with each other in an insipid propriety of demeanour, and a general want of understanding. Jane Austen, Sense & Sensibility
Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure. Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without in himself. Henry Ward Beecher
Selfishness and demagoguery take advantage of liberty. The selfish hand constantly seeks to control government, and every increase of governmental power, even to meet just needs, furnishes opportunity for abuse and stimulates the effort to bend it to improper uses. Charles Evans Hughes, Conditions of Progress in Democratic Government
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour’d and unsung. Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel IV:I
Thus suicidal selfishness, that blights
The fairest feelings of the opening heart,
Is destined to decay, whilst from the soil
Shall spring all virtue, all delight, all love,
And judgment cease to wage unnatural war
With passion's unsubduable array. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
Where all are selfish, the sage is no better than the fool, and only rather more dangerous. James Anthony Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects, Party Politics
We have self-centered minds which get us into plenty of trouble. If we do not come to understand the error in the way we think, our self-awareness, which is our greatest blessing, is also our downfall. Joko Beck
Under the present system it was impossible for anyone to succeed in life without injuring other people and treating them and making use of them as one would not like to be treated and made use of oneself.
In order to succeed in the world it was necessary to be brutal, selfish and unfeeling: to push others aside and to take advantage of their misfortunes: to undersell and crush out one’s competitors by fair means or foul: to consider one’s own interests first in every case, absolutely regardless of the wellbeing of others. Robert Tressell, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist
All who live under the present system practise selfishness, more or less. We must be selfish: the System demands it. We must be selfish or we shall be hungry and ragged and finally die in the gutter. The more selfish we are the better off we shall be. In the ‘Battle of Life’ only the selfish and cunning are able to survive: all others are beaten down and trampled under foot. No one can justly be blamed for acting selfishly – it is a matter of self-preservation – we must either injure or be injured. It is the system that deserves to be blamed. What those who wish to perpetuate the system deserve is another question. ibid.