26 THOUGHTS ON SELFISHNESS “Suppose you were the last one left? Suppose you did that to yourself?” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Road “Its not my job to make you happy. Its your job to learn that only those who quit selfishly seeking their own happiness find it.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich “Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.” ― Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” ― Oscar Wilde “Almost every sinful action ever committed can be traced back to a selfish motive. It is a trait we hate in other people but justify in ourselves. ” ― Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare “The world says: You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Dont 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 What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world, is and remains immortal.” ― Albert Pine “Man is not, by nature, deserving of all that he wants. When we think that we are automatically entitled to something, that is when we start walking all over others to get it.” ― Criss Jami But where there is selfishness it mars joy. One selfish soul will destroy the sweetness of life in any home. It is like an ugly bush in the midst of a garden of flowers. It was selfishness that destroyed the first home and blighted all the loveliness of Paradise; and it has been blighting lovely things in earths home ever since. We need to guard against this spirit.” ― J.R. Miller “Declare your jihad on thirteen enemies you cannot see -egoism, arrogance, conceit, selfishness, greed, lust, intolerance, anger, lying, cheating, gossiping and slandering. If you can master and destroy them, then you will be read to fight the enemy you can see.” ― Abu Hamid al-Ghazali What makes people hard to love? Isnt it what is commonly called selfishness? Selfish people are hard to love because so little love comes out of them.” ― William Nicholson, Shadowlands “You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always selfish; the more ardent the more selfish. How jealous I am you cannot know. You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me, and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature.” ― Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla “Whatever joy there is in the world Arises from wishing for others happiness. Whatever suffering there is in the world Arises from wishing for your own happiness.” ― -Shantideva “God creates us free, free to be selfish, but He adds a mechanism that will penetrate our selfishness and wake us up to the presence of others in this world, and that mechanism is called suffering.” ― William Nicholson, Shadowlands “Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account; and should I labour with you upon my own account, in expectation of a return, I know I should be disappointed, and that I should in vain depend upon your gratitude. Here then I leave you to labour alone; You treat me in the same manner. The seasons change; and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security.” ― David Hume “Being self-sufficient is not selfish; it is a need. Harming others or yourself is not selfish because it will never benefit the self; it is just stupid.” ― Elizabeth Cartwright “Self-pity is egotism undiluted, after all—self-centeredness in its purest form.” ― Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist “Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.” ― Aristophanes, Plutus “We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.” ― Herman Melville “How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it; if you could really look at other men with common curiosity and pleasure; if you could see them walking as they are in their sunny selfishness and their virile indifference! You would begin to be interested in them, because they are not interested in you. You would break out of this tiny and tawdry theatre in which your own little plot is always played, and you would find yourself under a freer sky, in a street full of splendid strangers.” ― G.K. Chesterton “After our loved one dies: we cry, not because they left; but because they left us.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana “The first sentiment of man was that of his existence, his first care that of preserving it.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality “Of all the vices which degrade the human character, Selfishness is the most odious and contemptible. An undue love of Self leads to the most mon¬strous crimes and occasions the greatest misfortunes both in States and Families. As a selfish man will impoverish his family and often bring them to ruin, so a selfish king brings ruin on his people and often plunges them into war.” ― William Makepiece Thackeray All love may begin by being passionate, especially for younger people. But in the process of living together, they have to learn and practice love, so that selfishness--the tendency to possess--will diminsh, and the elemetns of understanding and gratitude will settle in, little by little, until their love becomes nourishing, protecting, and reassuring, (41).” ― Thích Nhất Hạnh, For a Future to Be Possible: Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life “To Love oneself is Ok but,to love only oneself isnt!” ― Krishna Kumar Kanagal “In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction.” ― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas **all quotes were taken from goodreads
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 15:30:37 +0000
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