A little group of willful men reflecting no opinion but their own have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action.
—David Seabury (1885–1960) American Psychologist
Long before Einstein told us that matter is energy, Machiavelli and Hobbes and other modern political philosophers defined man as a lump of matter whose most politically relevant attribute is a form of energy called “self-interestedness.” This was not a portrait of man “warts and all.” It was all wart.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
No man ever saw the people of whom he forms a part. No man ever saw a government. I live in the midst of the Government of the United States, but I never saw the Government of the United States.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended; that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher