Milton has carefully marked, in his Satan, the intense selfishness which would rather reign in hell than serve in heaven.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness; though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–80) French Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
To be saved is only this,—salvation from our own selfishness.
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–92) American Quaker Poet, Abolitionist
There are too many who reverse both the principles and the practice of the apostle; they become all things to all men, not to serve others, but themselves; and they try all things only to hold fast that which is bad.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The selfishness must be discovered and understood before it can be removed. It is powerless to remove itself, neither will it pass away of itself. Darkness ceases only when light is introduced; so ignorance can only be dispersed by Knowledge; selfishness by Love.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
The moment you think only of yourself, the focus of your whole reality narrows, and because of this narrow focus, uncomfortable things can appear huge and bring you fear and discomfort and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by misery. The moment you think of others with a sense of caring, however, your view widens. Within that wider perspective, your own problems appear to be of little significance, and this makes a big difference.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
Supreme and abiding self-love is a very dwarfish affection, but a giant evil.
—Richard Cecil
Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Those who are most disinterested, and have the least of selfishness, have best materials for being happy.
—Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865) American Poetaster, Author
I seldom made an errand to God for another but I got something for myself.
—Samuel Rutherford (1600–61) Scottish Presbyterian Theologian, Author
Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only real religion.
—Israel Zangwill (1864–1926) English Playwright, Novelist, Zionist Activist
The selfish man suffers more from his selfishness than he from whom that selfishness withholds some important benefit.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If we were not all so excessively interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
All sympathy not consistent with acknowledged virtue is but disguised selfishness.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
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, unhonor’d, and unsung.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
What we call personality (…) has become the most impersonal thing in the world. Its pale and featureless face appears like a ghost at every corner and in every crowd. … Individualism kills individuality, precisely because individualism has to be an ‘ism’ quite as much as Communism or Calvinism. The economic and ethical school which calls itself individualist ended by threatening the world with the flattest and dullest spread of the commonplace. Men, instead of being themselves, set out to find a self to be: a sort of abstract economic self identified with self-interest. But while the self was that of a man, the self-interest was generally that of a class or a trade or even an empire. So far from really remaining a separate self, the man became part of a communal mass of selfishness.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Twin-sister of Religion, Selfishness
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
It is very natural for a young friend and a young lover to think the persons they love have nothing to do but to please them.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Our infinite obligations to God do not fill our hearts half as much as a petty uneasiness of our own; nor his infinite perfections as much as our smallest wants.
—Hannah More
Where all are selfish, the sage is no better than the fool, and only rather more dangerous.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
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
How a sickness enlarges the dimensions of a man’s self to himself! He is his own exclusive object. Supreme selfishness is inculcated in him as his only duty.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
Selfishness, when it is punished by the world, is mostly punished because it is connected with egotism.
—Arthur Helps (1813–75) British Essayist, Historian
Know the Self as Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, the discriminating intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; selfish desires are the roads they travel.
—The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism
Selfishness is never so exquisitely selfish as when it is on its knees … Self turns what would otherwise be a pure and powerful prayer into a weak and ineffective one.
—A. W. Tozer (1897–1963) American Christian Pastor, Preacher, Author, Editor
If you think only of yourself, if you forget the rights and well-being of others, or, worse still, if you exploit others, ultimately you will lose. You will have no friends who will show concern for your well-being. Moreover, if a tragedy befalls you, instead of feeling concerned, others might even secretly rejoice. By contrast, if an individual is compassionate and altruistic, and has the interests of others in The Mind irrespective of whether that person knows a lot of people, wherever that person moves, he or she will immediately make friends. And when that person faces a tragedy, there will be plenty of people who will come to help.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
Selfishness at the expense of others’ happiness is demonism.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor’s.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Self-interest, that leprosy of the age, attacks us from infancy, and we are startled to observe little heads calculate before knowing how to reflect.
—Delphine de Girardin (1804–55) French Novelist, Author