Selfish Desire Quotes

• Politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like the national interest.

  Thomas Sowell

  Art, Selfish, Patriotic

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.328, Hoover Press

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• Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Life, Wisdom, Philosophical

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• Sin always finds it's root in our own selfish desires and self-gratification.

  Joseph Campbell

  Selfish, Roots, Desire

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• Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

  Oscar Wilde

  Life, Sad, Beautiful

  Oscar Wilde (2016). “Aphorisms”, p.64, Oscar Wilde

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• In this world, whenever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exist, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love.

  Masashi Kishimoto

  Selfish, War, Light

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• Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

  Laozi

  Inspirational, Selfish, Simple

  Tao-te Ching ch. 19 (translation byWing-Tsit Chan)

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• To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

  Gustave Flaubert

  Happiness, Selfish, Stupid

  Gustave Flaubert, Francis Steegmuller (1980). “The Letters of Gustave Flaubert: 1830-1857”, p.62, Harvard University Press

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• You simply cannot give to the world all that you have to give to the world if you do not remain true to your own "selfish" desires. You have a unique set of precious values that can only be fulfilled by pursuing what drives you the most: your passions and dreams. Could Thomas Edison have tended to the downtrodden as Mother Teresa did? Could Albert Einstein have preached salvation as Martin Luther King Jr. did? Could Abraham Lincoln have built cars like Henry Ford? Always, the masses benefit from the individuals who insist on marching to the beat of their own drummer.

  Mike Dooley

  Mother, Dream, Kings

  Mike Dooley (2009). “Choose Them Wisely: Thoughts Become Things!”, p.9, Simon and Schuster

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• The first steps toward stewardship are awareness, appreciation, and the
  selfish desire to have the things around for our kids to see. Presumably the
  unselfish motives will follow as we wise up.

  Barbara Kingsolver

  Wise, Appreciation, Selfish

  Barbara Kingsolver (2011). “Small Wonder”, p.82, Faber & Faber

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• Moved by their selfish desires, people seek after fame and glory. But when they have acquired it, they are already stricken in years. If you hanker after worldly fame and practise not the Way, your labors are wrongfully applied and your energy is wasted. It is like unto burning an incense stick. However much its pleasing odor be admired, the fire that consumes is steadily burning up the stick.

  Gautama Buddha

  Selfish, Fire, Years

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• We're all born with selfish desires, so we can all relate to those feelings in others. But kindness is something made individually by each person. So it's easy to misunderstand when others are trying to be kind to you.

  Natsuki Takaya

  Kindness, Selfish, Feelings

  "Fruits Basket". Manga by Natsuki Takaya, 1998 - 2006.

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• Humanity could only have survived and flourished if it held social and personal values that transcended the urges of the individual, embodying selfish desires - and these stem from the sense of a transcendent good.

  Arthur Peacocke

  Selfish, Humanity, Desire

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• Yet one more item is needed to complete success, and that is the rendering of service to others in the community. Without this the mere satisfaction of selfish desire does not reach the top notch.

  Robert Baden-Powell

  Success, Selfish, Community

  Robert Baden-Powell (2013). “Playing the Game: A Baden-Powell Compendium”, p.14, Pan Macmillan

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• the scientist's religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is utterly insignificant reflection. This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work, in so far as he succeeds in keeping himself from the shackles of selfish desire. It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages.

  Albert Einstein

  Religious, Selfish, Reflection

  Albert Einstein (2016). “The Albert Einstein Collection: Essays in Humanism, The Theory of Relativity, and The World As I See It”, p.182, Open Road Media

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• If one's cause is supported by sound reasoning, there is no point in using violence. It is those who have no motive other than selfish desire and who cannot achieve their goal through logical reasoning who rely on force.

  Dalai Lama

  Selfish, Logical Reasoning, Goal

  Dalai Lama, Anne Benson, Fabien Ouaki (2016). “Imagine All the People: A Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Money, Politics, and Life As It Could Be”, p.127, Simon and Schuster

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• The world may not applaud us for wiping running noses, driving in carpools, or talking with our teenager into the wee hours of the morning. And until they are trained, our children might not thank us either. But as we set aside our own selfish desires and glorify God by joyfully serving our children, we are pursuing true greatness according to the Bible. Let us do so with tenderness, affection, and with a smile!

  Carolyn Mahaney

  Running, Morning, Children

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• he'd once believed that the answer lay somehow in the music he created, he suspected now that He'd been mistaken. The more he thought about it, the more he'd come to realize that for him, music had always been a movement away from reality rather than a means of living in it more deeply. .. he now knew that burying himself in music had less to do with God than a selfish desire to escape.

  Nicholas Sparks

  Selfish, Mean, Reality

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• ... a person who is religiously enlightened appears to me to be one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations to which he clings because of their superpersonal value.

  Albert Einstein

  Selfish, Feelings, Religion

  Albert Einstein (2011). “Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words”, p.22, Open Road Media

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• There are always rebels and radicals, I suppose,' McCleethy allows. 'Those who live on the fringes of society. But what do they contribute to the society itself? They reap its rewards without experiencing its costs. No. I submit that loyal, hardworking citizens who push aside their own selfish desires for the good of the whole are the backbone of the world. What if we all decided to run off and live freely without thought or care for society's rules? Our civilization would crumble. There is a joy in duty and a security in knowing one's place...It is the only way.

  Libba Bray

  Running, Selfish, Civilization

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• I've had only one idea in my life - a true idee fixe. To put it as bluntly as possible - the idea of having my own way. 'Control!' expresses it. The control of human behavior. In my early experimental days it was a frenzied, selfish desire to dominate. I remember the rage I used to feel when a prediction went awry. I could have shouted at the subjects of my experiments, 'Behave, damn you! Behave as you ought!

  B. F. Skinner

  Selfish, Damn You, Ideas

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• Compassion brings fulfillment to the heart. Selfish desires simply agitate the heart.

  Radhanath Swami

  Selfish, Heart, Compassion

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• For all these years I kept my mouth closed so selfish desires would not fall out. And because I remained quiet for so long now my daughter does not hear me... All these years I kept my true nature hidden, running along like a small shadow so nobody could catch me. And because I moved so secretly now my daughter does not see me... We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing; unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.

  Amy Tan

  Running, Daughter, Selfish

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• A technique can only work if it is in harmony with universal principles. Such principles need to be grasped through Mind, pure consciousness. Selfish desires thwart your progress, but Mind, not captivated by notions of victory or defeat, will liberate you. Mind fixes your senses and keeps you centered. Mind is the key to wondrous power and supreme clarity.

  Morihei Ueshiba

  Selfish, Keys, Track

  Morihei Ueshiba, John Stevens (2010). “The Art of Peace”, p.103, Shambhala Publications

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• I realized that I had granted my illness lordship over me. In viewing my depression as a despot subjecting me to its savage fancies, I was able to escape responsibility, to indulge fully my selfish desire to let my ego flourish unfettered, not obliged to anyone. But this wasn't freedom. It was a prison-a cell separating me from those who cared for me and for whom I might have cared.

  Eric G. Wilson

  Depression, Selfish, Responsibility

  Eric G. Wilson (2012). “Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away”, p.128, Sarah Crichton Books

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