Selfish Quotes - Page 23

• The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Sacrifice, Political, Democracy

  Speech to Congress, 2 April 1917, in 'Selected Addresses' (1918) p. 195

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• No knowledge, however thorough and extensive, no brilliance and perspicuity, no dialectic sophistication, will preserve us from the commmonness of thought and will. It is truly not the merit of the school if we do not come out selfish.

  Max Stirner

  School, Merit, Thorough

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• Our Savior gave Himself in unselfish service. He taught that each of us should follow Him by denying ourselves of selfish interests in order to serve others.

  Dallin H. Oaks

  Order, Taught, Should

  "Unselfish Service". Dallin H. Oaks' address at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org. April 2009.

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• The basis for the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount is not what works but rather the way God is. Cheek-turning is not advocated as what works (it usually does not), but advocated because this is the way God is - God is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. This is not a stratagem for getting what we want but the only manner of life available, now that, in Jesus, we have seen what God wants. We seek reconciliation with the neighbor, not because we feel so much better afterward, but because reconciliation is what God is doing in the world through Christ.

  Stanley Hauerwas

  Jesus, Ungrateful, World

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• Savage and furious nations, perpetually at war, adore, under diverse names, some God, conformable to their ideas, that is to say, cruel, carnivorous, selfish, blood-thirsty.

  Baron d'Holbach

  War, Blood, Names

  "Good Sense without God, or, Freethoughts Opposed to Supernatural Ideas". Book by Baron d'Holbach, 1900.

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• Moral evil is the immorality and pain and suffering and tragedy that come because we choose to be selfish, arrogant, uncaring, hateful and abusive.

  Lee Strobel

  Pain, Evil, Suffering

  "Lee Strobel Probes 'Why?' During First Sunday Service After Colorado Shooting" by Alex Murashko, www.christianpost.com. July 23, 2012.

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• Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.

  George Mason

  Attachment, Order, Rights

  "The Journal of the Debates in the Convention which Framed the Constitution of the United States, May-September, 1787", Volume 2, as recorded by James Madison, 1908.

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• When your kid is being selfish or greedy and you want to help them not be that way, you have to find a way to articulate it and inspire them.

  Louis C. K.

  Kids, Inspire, Want

  "Louis C.K.: The ESQ+A". Interview With Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. May 23, 2011.

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• [We] administered testosterone to men; instead of sharing money, they become selfish. Interestingly, high testosterone males are also more likely to use their own money to punish others for being selfish.

  Paul J. Zak

  Motivation, Inspiration, Men

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• If we don't have a clear sense of our identity and purpose, we are much more vulnerable to Lucifer. He of course knows this and accordingly attempts to blur our vision. He lies. He shades and obliterates truth. He makes evil look good and good look unenlightened and unsophisticated. Make no mistake about it: Lucifer will do anything to derail, disappoint, dishearten, discourage, and deceive us—and particularly those who have made and are seeking to keep sacred covenants. His motives are entirely self-centered, selfish, destructive, and evil.

  Sheri L. Dew

  Mistake, Lying, Evil

  Sheri L. Dew (2001). “No Doubt about it”

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• Even without love, I can live fine alone. It's not like I've always had what I wanted. In my life not even once... I was never selfish nor full of greed. The things I want to do, the things I want, the things I wish for... have I ever even had any of those, for at least once in my whole life? I can live fine without love. I will find a way to survive. Dying is hell. Why is living supposed to be hell?

  Ma-Roo

  Innocent Man, Greed, Wish

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• A selfish person can still love someone else, can't they? Even when they've hurt them and let them down.

  Rosamund Lupton

  Hurt, Love Someone, Persons

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• A lot of music comes from a selfish place.

  Vince Staples

  Staples

  Interview with Jeremy Gordon, pitchfork.com. August 28, 2014.

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• The young are often accused of exaggerating their troubles; they do so, very often, in the hope of making some impression upon the inertia and the immovability of the selfish old.

  Robertson Davies

  Trouble, Young, Impression

  Robertson Davies (1952). “Tempest-tost”, Clarke Irwin

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• I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me, if I do that well enough, then I'll be able to look after someone else -- the children or the husband or the elderly. But I have to look after myself first. I know that some people think that's being selfish, I think that's being self-full.

  Maya Angelou

  Children, Husband, Thinking

  "Maya Angelou Opens Women’s Health And Wellness Center, Calls Disparities ‘Embarrassing’" by Jessica Cumberbatch Anderson, www.huffingtonpost.com. May 15, 2012.

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• A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a cause outside his own individual, selfish satisfaction.

  Benjamin Spock

  Successful, Satisfaction, Causes

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• Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest.

  Calvin Coolidge

  Taken, Government, People

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• Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish or arrogant or greedy, the money brings that out, that's all.

  Henry Ford

  Motivational, Change, Money

  "It Would Be Fun To Start Over Again". The American Magazine, Volume 91, April 1921.

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• It's not selfish to give TO yourself as much as you give OF yourself

  Suze Orman

  Giving, Not Selfish

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• Everybody makes such a big deal today about team play because there's such a scarcity of it. Greed is a reason. You have to understand the influence of greed. A player has to be selfish in the pursuit of the development of his skills, but he cannot be selfish when it comes time to blend them in with what's good for his team.

  Pete Carril

  Team, Player, Skills

  Pete Carril, Dan White (2004). “The Smart Take from the Strong: The Basketball Philosophy of Pete Carril”, p.80, U of Nebraska Press

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• Someday our grandchildren will very likely look back at the individual, selfish control of the wealth of the world by a small elite the same way we view slavery today.

  Corinne McLaughlin

  Grandchildren, Views, Slavery Today

  Corinne McLaughlin (2009). “Spiritual Politics: Changing the World from the Inside Out”, p.574, Ballantine Books

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• Being selfish to me means that you have to look out for yourself and you don't have to sacrifice.

  Herbie Mann

  Mean, Sacrifice, Looks

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• Gods tend to be selfish. Even when they're helpful, they always have their own motives. That's why you have to be careful about trusting them.

  Rick Riordan

  Helpful, Be Careful, Motive

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• Chaos is impatient. It's random. And above all it's selfish. It tears down everything just for the sake of change, feeding on itself in constant hunger. But Chaos can also be appealing. It tempts you to believe that nothing matters except what you want.

  Rick Riordan

  Believe, Tears, Want

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• Unconditional love. That’s what he wants to give her and what he wants from her. People should give without wanting anything in return. All other giving is selfish. But he is being selfish a little, isn’t he, by wanting her to love him in return? He hopes that she loves him in return. Is it possible for a person to love without wanting love back? Is anything so pure? Or is love, by its nature, a reciprocity, like oceans and clouds, an evaporating of seawater and a replenishing of rain?

  Alan Lightman

  Rain, Ocean, Unconditional Love

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