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Personal Interest Quotes

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Personal Interest Quotes

“If anyone feels offended by my words, I would respond that I speak them with affection and with the best of intentions, quite apart from any personal interest or political ideology. My words are not those of a foe or an opponent. I am interested only in helping those who are in thrall to an individualistic, indifferent and self-centred mentality to be freed from those unworthy chains and to attain a way of living and thinking which is more humane, noble and fruitful, and which will bring dignity to their presence on this earth.”

IfsThinkingWayFeelsSelfHelpingEarthPoliticalSpeakInterestDignityIntentionAffectionNobleIdeologyChainsOpponentsMentalityIndifferentOffendedFoeHumaneUnworthyPolitical IdeologyPersonal InterestIndividualistic
Book:The Joy of the Gospel
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“If, while hurrying ostensibly to the temple of truth, we hand the reins over to our personal interests which look aside at very different guiding stars, for instance at the tastes and foibles of our contemporaries, at the established religion, but in particular at the hints and suggestions of those at the head of affairs, then how shall we ever reach the high, precipitous, bare rock whereon stands the temple of truth?”

IfsLooksDifferentHandsStarsInterestRocksParticularTasteAffairInstanceTemplesSuggestionsHintsReinsHurryingPersonal InterestFoiblesGuiding Stars
Author:Arthur Schopenhauer
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“Plato defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct. This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense. It is found wherever men are engaged in activity which is socially serviceable, but whose service they do not understand and have no personal interest in.”

MenPurposeFoundInterestAcceptingConditionsActivitySlaverySlaveDefinedEngagedPlatoPersonal Interest
Book:Democracy And Education
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“A society which makes provision for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life is in so far democratic. Such a society must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.”

GivingMindDifferentFormLife IsIndividualSocialTermInterestTypeHabitEqualMembersInstitutionsDemocraticSecureDisorderInteractionIntroducingParticipationSocial ChangeFlexibleProvisionHabits Of MindPersonal InterestSocial Relationships
Book:Democracy And Education
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“It is doubtless very desirable, that private persons should have a correct knowledge of their personal interests; but it must be infinitely more so, that governments should possess that knowledge.”

ShouldPersonsGovernmentInterestShould HaveDesirablePersonal Interest
Book:A Treatise on Political Economy; Or, The Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Wealth
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“As a teacher and parent, I've had a very personal interest in seeking new ways of teaching. Like most other teachers and parents, I've been well aware painfully so, at times that the whole teaching/learning process is extraordinarily imprecise, most of the time a hit-and-miss operation. Students may not learn what we think we are teaching them and what they learn may not be what we intended to teach them at all.”

ThinkingWayWellsMayWholeProcessParentInterestTeachTeacherTeachingMissingStudentsSeekingOperationsNew WaysLearning ProcessTeaching LearningPersonal Interest
Book:Drawing on the right side of the brain: a course in enhancing creativity and artistic confidence
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“I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have a personal interest in their survival ... all thought the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state. I have no hesitation in stating that throughout my stay in America I met nobody, lay or cleric, who did not agree about that.”

CountryStatesReasonAmericaInterestChurchAtheismMetsQuietSurvivalAgreeLaysVariousPositive AtheismSeparationFaithfulCreedsCommunionChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateHesitationClergymenPersonal Interest
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“There are at the present time two great nations in the world--the Russians and the Americans. The American relies upon his personal interest to accomplish his ends and gives free scope to the unguided exertions and common sense of the people. The Russian centers all his authority of society in a single arm. The principal instrument of the former is freedom; of the latter, servitude. Their starting point is different and their courses are not the same; yet each of them seems marked by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.”

PeopleWorldGivingTwoDifferentEndsSeemsCoursesHeavenNationsInterestCommonHalfDestinyUnited StatesArmsAuthorityInstrumentsStartingAccomplishCommon SenseFormerRelyLatterPrincipalGlobesScopeStarting PointServitudeExertionGreat NationsPresent TimeRely UponPersonal Interest
Author:Alexis de Tocqueville
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“I have an intense personal interest in making the use of American capital in the development of China an instrument for the promotion of the welfare of China, and an increase in her material prosperity without entanglements or creating embarrassment affecting the growth of her independent political power, and the preservation of her territorial integrity.”

UsePoliticalGrowthInterestMaterialsDevelopmentIntegrityCreatingIncreaseIndependentInstrumentsProsperityChinaIntenseWelfarePreservationPromotionEmbarrassmentPolitical PowerTerritorialPersonal InterestEntanglement
Author:William Howard Taft
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“I leave the governor's office next week, and with it public life[which] has been on the whole a pleasant one. But for ten years and over my salaries have not equalled my expenses, and there has been a feeling of responsibility, a lack of independence, and a necessary neglect of my family and personal interests and comfort, which make the prospect of a change comfortable to think of.”

ThinkingYearsHas BeensWholeFeelingsNextInterestResponsibilityWeekComfortTenOfficeComfortableMy FamilyIndependencePleasantNeglectExpensesGovernorsSalaryPublic ServicePublic LifeNext WeekPersonal Interest
Author:Rutherford B. Hayes
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“Sympathy is the first great lesson which man should learn. It will be ill for him if he proceeds no farther; if his emotions are but excited to roll back on his heart, and to be fostered in luxurious quiet. But unless he learns to feel for things in which he has no personal interest, he can achieve nothing generous or noble.”

IfsMenFeelsShouldFirstsHeartInterestEmotionAchieveLessonsQuietIllExcitedNobleGenerousSympathyLuxuriousPersonal Interest
Book:Critical and Miscellaneous Writings
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“One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat. Ay any rate, if it is heat it ought to be white heat and not sputter, because sputtering heat is apt to spread the fire. There ought, if there is any heat at all, to be that warmth of the heart which makes every man thrust aside his own personal feeling, his own personal interest, and take thought of the welfare and benefit of others.”

IfsMenHeartFeelingsLightInterestWhiteFireOughtThousandBenefitsJudgmentRateSpreadEvery ManWelfareHeatThings To DoWarmthCouncilThrustHastyPersonal InterestPersonal Feelings
Author:Woodrow Wilson
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“When I was a kid, I used to live in New York City. There was a guy named Michael Alig. He used to throw parties. And a couple of times, I even worked for him and his crew, and handed out fliers, and had my super-high shoes on, and wearing silver Saran Wrap around my head or something. It's a world I was really comfortable in: a world full of individuals. I think what I like about that world - besides my own personal interests - is the individualism, the investment in the self.”

ThinkingWorldSelfKidsUsedGuyIndividualInterestMy OwnPartyCitiesNew YorkCoupleComfortableInvestmentShoesSilverNew York CityIndividualismCrewWrapsPersonal Interest
Author:Jared Leto
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“In all proper relationships there is no sacrifice of anyone to anyone. An architect needs clients, but he does not subordinate his work to their wishes. They need him, but they do not order a house just to give him commission. Men exchange their work by free, mutual consent to mutual advantage when their personal interests agree and they both desire the exchange.”

MenNeedsGivingDoeDesireOrderHouseWishInterestSacrificeAdvantageAgreeMutualArchitectClientsConsentSubordinatesFountainheadPersonal Interest
Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)
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“I believed the people had a true instinct in most matters of government when left alone. That they were not swayed, as specially favoured individuals were, by personal interest, but rather by a sense of what best served the common good. That they recognized the truth when it was put before them, and that a leader can guide so long as he kept to the right lines. I did not think it was a mark of leadership to try to make the people do what one wanted them to do.”

PeopleThinkingTryingLongMatterGovernmentWantedIndividualLeftInterestLinesCommonLeaderMarkInstinctGuidesCommon GoodLeft AlonePersonal Interest
Author:William Lyon Mackenzie King
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“There is very little that our government or any government can do to plant the seeds of international understanding in the hearts and minds of people around the world. If people by the millions can reach out their hands in friendship and communicate directly warmth, personal interest and respect, it will be a real beginning in the struggle for a peaceful world.”

PeopleIfsWorldMindHeartLittlesRealHandsGovernmentUnderstandingInterestCan DoMillionsStrugglePlantInternationalCommunicateSeedsPeacefulAround The WorldWarmthReach OutHeart And MindPeaceful WorldPersonal Interest
Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
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“As you can imagine, I have a deeply personal interest in people learning to at least be tolerant of homosexuals. My life depends on it. And as I wish to be left alone, I realize it is not in my interest to interfere with how other people choose to lead their lives, or raise their children. All totalitarian arguments that restrict people's freedom have been based in the "it's best for everyone" framework.”

PeopleChildrenHas BeensLeftWishInterestRealizingImagineDependsArgumentRaisesInterfereHomosexualFrameworkLeft AlonePersonal Interest
Book:The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values
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“Of course, if one's reading Kierkegaard for personal interest that's fine - but it's sloppy scholarship just to cherry pick what suits one from a particular author, whether it's Kierkegaard, Heidegger, or whoever. Nevertheless, it does seem to me that even the more religious parts of the authorship can offer significant insights into the meaning of the human condition to those who can't then say that, e.g., they believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and their personal Saviour.”

IfsBelieveHumansDoeSeemsCoursesReadingJesusInterestChristReligiousConditionsParticularSonFineOffersPicksJesus ChristInsightSignificantSuitsHuman ConditionNeverthelessScholarshipSaviourCherriesAuthorshipSloppyPersonal InterestHeidegger
Author:George Pattison
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“The issues which mattered to me as an activist, mainly things like prison reform and AIDS, have less of a chance of getting covered on my show than things I don't have a personal interest in. It's because I don't trust my antenna about being a good storyteller on those subjects, because I know a lot and therefore lose touch with what the average person might find interesting about them.”

KnowsPersonsShowsMightInterestLosesChanceInterestingIssuesSubjectsPrisonAverageAidsReformActivistCoveredStorytellerDon't TrustAverage PersonPersonal InterestAntennaPrison Reform
Author:Rachel Maddow
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“All the stories and descriptions of that time without exception peak only of the patriotism, self-sacrifice, despair, grief, and heroism of the Russians. But in reality it was not like that...The majority of the people paid no attention to the general course of events but were influenced only by their immediate personal interests.”

PeopleSelfStoriesRealityCoursesInterestGriefAttentionSacrificeEventsDespairPaidMajorityDescriptionExceptionHeroismSelf SacrificePersonal Interest
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages, and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way.”

PeopleMenWayCountryWholeJobsAmericaMovingPoliticalSufferingPoliticsInterestCommonPayStepsSacrificeGeniusHigherDiscoveryCapitalismEconomicsMachinesFortuneMoving ForwardAbundanceProductiveGoodsTechnologicalWagesPursuedCheaperFree ManEvery StepCommon GoodBetter JobsScientific DiscoveryIndustrializationPersonal InterestPolitics And Economics
Author:Ayn Rand
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