Quotes About Self-interest

Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?

The best headlines are those that appeal to the reader's self-interest, that is, headlines based on reader benefits. They offer readers something they want - and get from you.

Hollywood 'friends' are only after one thing. They're looking out for the next big thing, and they don't want to miss out on you just in case.

Ethics doesn't require us to ignore our self-interests or demand a life of self-sacrifice. It requires that we know the difference between what we want and what we should do

Why should I want what's good for me?' Beatrice asked him, smiling. 'Is that what you want for yourself - only what's good for you?

KierowaÅ'a siÄ™ wówczas instynktem, a jej instynkt nie miaÅ' nic wspólnego z altruizmem. Na wojnie altruiÅ›ci nie ?yli dÅ'ugo.

People were the same everywhere, no matter what lofty vows they proclaimed. Help was given only in the hope of its being reciprocated. Expectations of reward lurked behind every act of altruism.

We are all members of the same flawed species. Putting our moral vision into practice means imposing our will on others. The human lust for power and esteem, coupled with its vulnerability to self-deception and self-righteousness, makes that an invitation to a calamity, all the worse when the power is directed at a goal as quixotic as eradicating human self-interest.

Cynically but accurately put, Americans oppose public intervention or regulation if it helps others, but favor it if it helps them - take social security, disaster relief, public works projects, for example.

Ultimately, and I believe this is one of the fundamental problems with socialism, it's that human beings do have self-interest. It's very hard to ignore that self-interest when you're creating a government structure.

Democracy is based upon empathy and the recognition that some decisions are solely for the community's benefit without regard to one's own narrow self-interest.

That is why, as Adam Smith put it, an individual who intends only his own gain is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

There is one thing, he said, that you can trust everybody to do and that is to put his interest above yours.

I am often called a "conspiracy theorist." The reason is simple. Unlike all but a very few other journalists or nonfiction writers, I've been a political consultant to a presidential campaign and advisor to a vice president. And as a result of those experiences, I know how the powerful react in a crisis — especially when their self-interest is involved.

People get so used to lying and repeating other people's lies, either because they're afraid or out of self-interest, resentment, or sheer stupidity, that they end up lying even when they think they're telling the truth. It's the failing of our times.

He was a selfish customer, always thinking less of what he was going to do than of what he was going to gain by his doings.

Trust a witness in all matters in which neither his self-interest, his passions, his prejudices, nor the love of the marvellous is strongly concerned. When they are involved, require corroborative evidence in exact proportion to the contravention of probability by the thing testified.

Where self-interest is the bond, The friendship is dissolved When calamity comes. Where Tao is the bond, Friendship is made perfect By calamity.

No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems—of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. People with careers as ethnic leaders usually tell their followers what they want to hear.

The virtually unanimous support of bilingualism among Hispanic activists, "leaders" and "spokesmen"—in contrast to Hispanic parents—is understandable only in terms of the self-interest of those activists, "leaders" and "spokesmen," who benefit from the preservation of a separate ethnic enclave, preferably alienated from the larger society.

It would be naive to overlook the self-interest behind many of the glowing pleas for "expanded educational opportunity for youth." Since youth must compete against each other for jobs, more "opportunity" for tax-subsidized education of middle-class students means a continued escalation of degree requirements for jobs and corresponding restriction of opportunity for youths from poorer families.

There are millions of people who long for a relationship with God, but who cannot find that relationship in a church that will not own up to its limitations, it mistakes, its failure to put peace and justice and love ahead of self-interest and success and doctrinal correctness. There are millions of thinking, caring people in the church right now who find it hard to remain in an institution that will not take seriously its own faults and flaws and the abuse that it heaps upon its members.