Self Interest Quotes - Page 12

• The basic of all morality is duty, a concept with the same relation to group that self-interest has to individual.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Self, Groups, Morality

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• The marketplace is a wondrous institution. It harnesses the self-interest of each of us and puts it to work for the benefit of all. And it does so without intruding upon our desires, our privacy, or our freedom. It is regulation by reality, not by coercion.

  Harry Browne

  Reality, Self, Desire

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• We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami. Central banks and governments are being required to take unprecedented measures. Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity are in a state of shocked disbelief.

  Alan Greenspan

  Government, Self, Credit

  "Greenspan Admits Free Market Ideology Flawed". "Morning Edition" with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. October 24, 2008.

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• You are One with everything. When you are clear about this, your definition of self-interest will change.

  Neale Donald Walsch

  Self, Definitions, Interest

  Neale Donald Walsch (2002). “Communion with God”, p.109, Penguin

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• The notion that economic life is a distinct realm, governed by immutable laws of narrow self-interest, is giving way to a much older notion: economic life is only one strand in the rich web of human relationships.

  Frances Moore Lappé

  Self, Law, Giving

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• Wall Street can be a dangerous place for investors. You have no choice but to do business there, but you must always be on your guard. The standard behavior of Wall Streeters is to pursue maximization of self-interest; the orientation is usually short term. This must be acknowledged, accepted, and dealt with. If you transact business with Wall Street with these caveats in mind, you can prosper. If you depend on Wall Street to help you, investment success may remain elusive.

  Seth Klarman

  Wall, Investment Success, Self

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• This is not to say that becoming a father automatically makes you a good father. Fatherhood, like marriage, is a constant struggle against your limitations and self-interests. But the urge to be a perfect father is there, because your child is a perfect gift.

  Kent Nerburn

  Marriage, Children, Father

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• Any act of injury done from self-interest, whether amounting to killing or not, is doubtless himsa.

  Mahatma Gandhi

  Self, Done, Violence

  Mahatma Gandhi (1970). “Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi”

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• Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of public characters.

  Thomas Paine

  Character, Self, Political

  Thomas Paine (2016). “THE RIGHTS OF MAN: The French Revolution – Ideals, Arguments & Motives (Political Classic): Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution”, p.213, e-artnow

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• We have an infinite capacity for self interest, yet the infinite has absolutely no interest in us

  Dean Cavanagh

  Self, Infinite, Capacity

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• I was induced to establish several orders of merit, from conviction that emulation, well directed, becomes a useful servant; and, that the latent genius of some youth is more easily brought into action this way, than by the more sordid gratification of self-interest.

  Joseph Lancaster

  Self, Order, Genius

  Joseph Lancaster (1803). “Improvements in education, as it respects the industrious classes of the community”, p.48

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• Perhaps the most powerful lesson other brands can learn from Nike is the need to act in accordance with the reality of the world we live in. In a mutually dependant, intimately connected global community facing several major crises, brands need to operate with an expanded definition of self-interest that includes the greater good.

  Simon Mainwaring

  Nike, Powerful, Reality

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• People acting in their own self-interest is the fuel for all the discovery, innovation, and prosperity that powers the world.

  John Stossel

  Discovery, Self, People

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• Adam Smith had one overwhelmingly important triumph: he put into the center of economics the systematic analysis of the behavior of individuals pursuing their self-interest under conditions of competition.

  George Stigler

  Self, Competition, Important

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• Each man must live as an end in himself and follow his own rational self-interest.

  Ayn Rand

  Men, Self, Ends

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• Whenever there is a conflict between universal principles and self-interest, self-interest is likely to prevail.

  George Soros

  Self, Principles, Investing

  George Soros (2007). “Open Society Reforming Global Capitalism Reconsidered”, p.17, PublicAffairs

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• Creative capitalism takes this interest in the fortunes of others and ties it to our interest in our own fortunes in ways that help advance both. This hybrid engine of self-interest and concern for others can serve a much wider circle of people than can be reached by self-interest or caring alone.

  Bill Gates

  Caring, Self, Circles

  Remarks by Bill Gates at World Economic Forum 2008 "A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century" in Davos, Switzerland, news.microsoft.com. January 24, 2008.

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• I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organisations, specifically banks and others, were such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms.

  Alan Greenspan

  Mistake, Self, Made

  " Greenspan - I was wrong about the economy. Sort of" by Andrew Clark and Jill Treanor, www.theguardian.com. October 23, 2008.

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• The economic distress of America's inner cities may be the most pressing issue facing the nation. The lack of businesses and jobs in disadvantaged urban areas fuels not only a crushing cycle of poverty but also crippling social problems such as drug abuse and crime… A sustainable economic base can be created in the inner city, but only as it has been created elsewhere: through private, for-profit initiatives and investment based on economic self-interest and genuine competitive advantage.

  Michael Porter

  Crush, Jobs, Cities

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• Successful organizing is not built on self-interest but rather on dignity and a sense of purpose.

  Paul Wellstone

  Successful, Self, Purpose

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• The kind of society which we still have is maybe, in some cases, getting worse. Competition is becoming a virtue. Intense competition drives people to go more and more into self-interest. Even to see other folks as competition.

  Major Owens

  Self, People, Competition

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• Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the socialist democracy of the world.

  James Connolly

  Destiny, Self, Independence

  James Connolly, Peter Berresford-Ellis (1988). “James Connolly: Selected Writings”, p.34, Pluto Press

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• The claims of existing social arrangements and of self interest have been duly allowed for. We cannot at the end count them a second time because we do not like the result.

  John Rawls

  Self, Social, Ends

  John Rawls (2009). “A Theory of Justice”, p.117, Harvard University Press

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• By a kind of happy pre-established harmony, such as a later age discovered between the needs of society and the self-interest of the individual, success in business is in itself almost a sign of spiritual grace, for it is a proof that a man has laboured faithfully in his vocation.

  R. H. Tawney

  Spiritual, Men, Self

  R. H. Tawney (2016). “Religion and the Rise of Capitalism”, p.210, Verso Books

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• With the more endowed nations constrained by their own higher technological capacity for self-destruction as well as by self interest, war may have become a luxury that only the poor peoples of this world can afford.

  Zbigniew Brzezinski

  War, Luxury, Self

  Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007). “The Grand Chessboard”, p.199, Basic Books

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