Egoism Quotes

• God is the Sun and when His rays fall upon your heart, not impeded by the clouds of egoism, the lotus blooms and the petals unfold.

  Sathya Sai Baba

  Fall, Heart, Clouds

  FaceBook post by Sri Sathya Sai Baba from Jan 17, 2012

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• What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment.

  Nikola Tesla

  Pride, Community, Understanding

  Nikola Tesla (2016). “My Inventions: And Other Writings”, p.54, Courier Dover Publications

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• Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Integrity, Selfish, Creativity

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• Self-interest, or rather self-love, or egoism, has been more plausibly substituted as the basis of morality.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Self, Morality, Interest

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1854). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence, contin”, p.349

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• Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul.

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  Essence, Soul, Noble

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• For a solitary animal egoism is a virtue that tends to preserve and improve the species: in any kind of community it becomes a destructive vice.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Animal, Community, Vices

  Erwin Schrodinger (2012). “What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches”, p.101, Cambridge University Press

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• When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.

  John Ruskin

  Motivational, Witty, Attitude

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• Human pride and egoism always create divisions, build walls of indifference, hate and violence. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, makes hearts capable of understanding the languages of all, as he re-establishes the bridge of authentic communication between earth and Heaven.

  Pope Benedict XVI

  Wall, Hate, Communication

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• We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that is alive around us, and reconcile ourselves with our environment.

  Tariq Ramadan

  Giving, Fasting, Mastery

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• In the development of mankind as a whole, just as in individuals, love alone acts as the civilizing factor in the sense that it brings a change from egoism to altruism.

  Sigmund Freud

  Love, Development, Individual

  Sigmund Freud (2015). “Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego: Illustrated & Psychology Glossary & Index Added Inside”, p.75, eKitap Projesi

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• The common trait of all evil is nothing other than egoism... Basically all human evil comes from what we call the selfishness.

  Rudolf Steiner

  Evil, Selfishness, Common

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• It’s in our interest to take care of others. Self-centrednes s is opposed to basic human nature. In our own interest as human beings we need to pay attention to our inner values. Sometimes people think compassion is only of help to others, while we get no benefit. This is a mistake. When you concern yourself with others, you naturally develop a sense of self-confidence . To help others takes courage and inner strength.

  Dalai Lama

  Wise, Confidence, Spiritual

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• The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.

  George Eliot

  Ego, Doe, Belief

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.345, Penguin

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• Perhaps it will be found that to obtain a just republic (and it is to secure our just rights that we resort to government at all) it must be so extensive as that local egoisms may never reach its greater part; that on every particular question, a majority may be found in its councils free from particular interests, and giving, therefore, an uniform prevalence to the principles of justice.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Rights, Government, Giving

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798”, p.165, Cosimo, Inc.

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• It is precisely our egoism, our self-centeredness and self-love that cause all our difficulties, our lack of freedom in suffering, our disappointments and our anguish of soul and body.

  Tito Colliander

  Disappointment, Self, Soul And Body

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• Do not make the mistake of the ignorant who think that an individualist is a man who says: “I’ll do as I please at everybody else’s expense.” An individualist is a man who recognizes the inalienable individual rights of man—his own and those of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Respect, Mistake, Men

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.231, Penguin

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• The simple recognition that everyone else wants to be happy and not to suffer, just as I do, serves as a constant reminder against selfishness and partiality. It reminds us there is little to be gained from being kind and generous while hoping to win something in return. Actions motivated by a desire to earn a good name for ourselves are still selfish, even if they appear to be acts of kindness.

  Dalai Lama

  Kindness, Selfish, Winning

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• An animal that embarks on forming states without greatly restricting egoism will perish.

  Erwin Schrodinger

  Animal, States

  Erwin Schrodinger (2012). “What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches”, p.101, Cambridge University Press

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• I have been judged to be a pessimist but what abyss of ignorance and low egoism is not hidden in one who thinks that Man is the god of himself and that his future can only be triumphant?

  Eugenio Montale

  Ignorance, Men, Thinking

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• The more you make this world about you, the more miserable you will be.

  Matt Chandler

  World, Miserable, This World

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• There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire; it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.

  George Eliot

  Jealousy, Passion, Fire

  George Eliot (1994). “Middlemarch”, p.175, Wordsworth Editions

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• It's no accident that capitalism has brought with it progress, not merely in production but also in knowledge. Egoism and competition are, alas, stronger forces than public spirit and sense of duty.

  Albert Einstein

  Competition, Stronger, Progress

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.208, Open Road Media

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• In brief, egoism in its modern interpretation, is the antithesis, not of altruism, but of idealism.

  John Buchanan Robinson

  Modern, Idealism And Realism, Interpretation

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• As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health - food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is Love of Oneself.

  Charlie Chaplin

  Attitude, People, Healthy

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• But egoism is more than this. It is the realization by the individual that he is above all institutions and all formulas; that they exist only so far as he chooses to make them his own by accepting them.

  John Buchanan Robinson

  Realization, Individual, Accepting

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