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Selfish Quotes

Browse 1733 quotes about Selfish.

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Selfish Quotes

“Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long term survival, is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.”

YearsLongStillsEnoughUseEarthPastNextDifficultTermChanceAbilitySpaceMillionsEnvironmentGrowingPlanetsThousandSurvivalHundredResourcesAdvantageInstinctIllPopulationSpreadSelfishDisasterCodeLong TermCarrieAggressiveInwardFinitePlanet EarthAbility To Change
Author:Stephen Hawking
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“I don't want to just be an athlete. I kind of obsess on that sometimes. I don't want my son to be reading, oh, 'disappointment, just a scorer, selfish, didn't win enough, never quite the best' -- whatever. I want to be bigger than that. I want to shape my own destiny instead of just having him read about whatever on the back page.”

WantKindSometimesEnoughReadingWinningMy OwnDestinySonShapesPagesBiggerAthleteDisappointmentSelfishMy SonNever Quit
Author:Carmelo Anthony
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“The [Oregon] Journal in its head and heart will stand for the people, be truly Democratic and free from political entanglements and machinations, believing in the principles that promise the greatest good to the greatest number-to ALL MEN, regardless of race, creed or previous condition of servitude... It will be a fair newspaper, not a dull and selfish sheet.”

PeopleMenBelieveHeartPoliticalNumbersRacePrinciplesConditionsPromiseFairsDemocraticSelfishNewspapersJournalistDullCreedsJournalSheetsServitudeOregonHead And HeartEntanglement
Author:Samuel L. Jackson
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“That is the key to history. Terrific energy is expended - civilizations are built up - excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong. Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top, and then it all slides back into misery and ruin. In fact, the machine conks. It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down.”

PeopleFactsSeemsGovernmentRunningEnergyBreakKeysCivilizationBuiltMachinesInstitutionsMiserySelfishRuinsExcellentFlawsYardsBreaking DownTerrificSlidesFatal Flaws
Book:Mere Christianity: a revised and enlarged edition, with a new introduction, of the three books, The case for Christianity, Christian behaviour, and Beyond personality
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“We are all the time, from our childhood, trying to lay the blame upon something outside ourselves. We are always standing up to set right other people, and not ourselves. If we are miserable, we say, "Oh, the world is a devil's world." We curse others and say, "What infatuated fools!" But why should we be in such a world, if we really are so good? If this is a devil's world, we must be devils also; why else should we be here? "Oh, the people of the world are so selfish!" True enough; but why should we be found in that company, if we be better? Just think of that.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldShouldTryingEnoughFoundCompanyChildhoodFoolDevilStandingOur ChildrenBlameLaysSelfishMiserableCurseInfatuated
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
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“... Grief is selfish. It is indulged in for self-gratification, not for love. Cosmic man knows the beauty and unreality of death. Sympathy for the afflicted makes a reality of the affliction by its recognition as an infliction, while sorrow for the loss of anything, or for the »unfortunate« condition of anybody, is forgetful of the beauty and abundance of all-giving God and Nature. The Mind of God knows but one unchanging emotion - ECSTASY - the ecstasy of Love - the ecstasy which has its beginnings in an inner joyousness of one who is far on the road to the discovery of his immortal Self.”

KnowsMenGivingMindSelfRealityLossGriefEmotionConditionsSorrowDiscoverySelfishRecognitionAbundanceImmortalEcstasyCosmicUnfortunateAfflictionGod KnowsGratificationUnchangingForgetfulUnrealityGod And NatureDeath SympathyInflictionSelf Gratification
Author:Walter Russell
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“Thinking it selfish to dwell on her own sufferings, when in the midst of wretches, who had not only lost all that endears life, but their very selves, her imagination was occupied with melancholy earnestness to trace the mazes of misery, through which so many wretches must have passed to this gloomy receptacle of disjointed souls, to the grand source of human corruption.”

ThinkingHumansSoulSelfSufferingLostImaginationSourceMiseryCorruptionSelfishMidstMelancholyGloomyMazesEarnestness
Book:Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman
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“All our acts, reasoned and unreasoned, are selfish”

InspirationSelfish
Book:The Mark Twain Autobiography + 3 Biographies: 4 Mark Twain Biographies In 1 Book: Chapters From My Autobiography By Mark Twain + My Mark Twain By William Dean Howells’ + Mark Twain A Biography By Albert Bigelow Paine + The Boys’ Life Of Mark Twain By Albert Bigelow Paine
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“One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.”

PhilosophyFriendshipFamilyPositiveThousandTenMy FriendsWorthySelfishLoyaltyGreekRelativeLoyalFamily And FriendsReal FriendsTrue FriendMy FriendshipWorthinessPeople In Your LifeAbout FriendshipOne Line FriendshipAncient GreekBeing SelfishFriendship DayGreek PhilosopherFunny FriendInspirational FriendshipGreat FriendshipHappy FriendshipOne FriendSelfish PeopleHappy Friendship DayFriendship OverWho Your Real Friends AreLoyal FriendThat One FriendShort FriendSelfish LoveSelfish PersonI Am SelfishBlood Relatives
Book:Euripides
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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!”

WayFeelsHumansIdeasRememberUsedDesireMy OwnSubjectsOughtBehaviorRageSelfishExperimentsDamnBehavePredictionsHuman BehaviorDamn YouSelfish Desire
Author:B. F. Skinner
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“Giving primacy to God means having the courage to say ‘no’ to evil, ‘no’ to violence, ‘no’ to oppression, to live a life in service of others and which fosters lawfulness and the common good. When a person discovers God, the true treasure, he abandons a selfish lifestyle and seeks to share with others the charity which comes from God. He who becomes a friend of God, loves his brothers and sisters, commits himself to safeguarding their life and their health, and also to respecting the environment and nature.”

GivingMeanPersonsEvilCommonEnvironmentViolenceShareBrotherCharitySelfishLifestyleTreasureCommitOppressionGod LoveAbandonBrothers And SistersCommon GoodPrimacySafeguardingLawfulness
Author:Pope Francis
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“It looks like a waste of life, that mowing down of our best years by a relentless passion which itself falls dead on the top of them. But it is not so. Every year I live I am more convinced that the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the selfish prudence which will risk nothing, and which, shirking pain, misses happiness as well. No one ever yet was the poorer in the long run for having once in a lifetime 'let out all the length of the reins.'”

YearsWellsLooksLongRunningPainUsedLyingFallPassionGivenRiskMissingWasteLifetimeConvincedSelfishLengthLong RunsPrudenceRelentlessReinsBest YearOnce In A LifetimeWaste Of LifeMowing
Book:Red Pottage
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“The charlatan takes very different shapes according to circumstances; but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always selfish and material.”

MenMayDifferentEndsUseCareMaterialsCircumstancesShapesGainsStriveBottomSakeSelfishStrifeWho CaresSemblanceCharlatans
Book:The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism (illustrated)
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“Selfishness so often is the basis of money problems, which are a very serious and real factor affecting the stability of family life. Selfishness is at the root of adultery, the breaking of solemn and sacred covenants to satisfy selfish lust. Selfishness is the antithesis of love. It is a cankering expression of greed. It destroys self-discipline. It obliterates loyalty. It tears up sacred covenants. It afflicts both men and women.”

MenRealSelfProblemTearsSeriousExpressionDisciplineMen And WomenRootsBasesSacredGreedSelfishLoyaltyLustFactorsSelfishnessStabilitySelf DisciplineFamily LifeAdulterySolemnCovenantOften IsAntithesisMoney Problem
Author:Gordon B. Hinckley
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“The dictionary describes a selfish person as one who is 'concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself: seeking pleasure or well-being without regard for others.' May we add, a selfish person is often one who refers to 'I,' 'me,' and 'mine' rather than to 'we,' 'ours,' 'yours,' or 'theirs.' This person is anxious to be in the limelight, to be on center stage in life's little dramas. He or she may be a poor listener, or a conversation monopolizer. Selfishness is the great unknown sin. No selfish person ever thought himself to be selfish.”

WellsMayLittlesPersonsSinPleasurePoorStageMinesDramaConversationConcernedRegardAddOneselfSeekingSelfishWell BeingSelfishnessAnxiousListenersDictionaryBeing SelfishLimelightCenter StageSelfish PersonGreat Unknown
Author:H. Burke Peterson
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“The moment a mere numerical superiority by either states or voters in this country proceeds to ignore the needs and desires of the minority, and for their own selfish purpose or advancement, hamper or oppress that minority, or debar them in any way from equal privileges and equal rights-that moment will mark the failure of our constitutional system.”

WayNeedsCountryStatesMomentsDesirePurposePoliticsRightsEqualMarkMajorityMerePrivilegeSelfishMinoritiesThat MomentVotersSuperiorityAdvancementEqual RightsHamper
Author:Franklin D. Roosevelt
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“I knew I was breaking about a dozen laws but I guess I had different attitudes to stuff like that since the war. Laws were for the stupid the immature the irresponsible. The inflexible and the narrow-minded. The prejudiced. The obsessive. The lazy and careless and selfish and spoilt. The violent.”

DifferentWarLawStuffAttitudeStupidSelfishViolentLazyDozenFlexibleCarelessIrresponsibleObsessiveImmatureNarrow-mindedSpoiltDifferent Attitude
Book:While I Live: The Ellie Chronicles 1: The Ellie Chronicles
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“Furthermore, what profit was it to me that I, rascally slave of selfish ambitions that I was, read and understood by myself as many books as I could get concerning the so-called liberal arts?...I had turned my back to the light and my face to the things it illuminated, and so no light played upon my own face, or on the eyes that perceived them.”

ArtBookLightEyeFacesMy OwnAmbitionUnderstoodSlaveProfitSelfishLiberal ArtsSelfish Ambition
Book:The Confessions
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“This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

WorldWantLittlesLongI CanWholeMomentsUsedJoyPurposeForceCommunityOpinionGenerationsPrivilegeComplainingSelfishSplendidFuture GenerationTorchesGrievanceForces Of NatureAilmentsTrue Joy
Author:George Bernard Shaw
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“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all. It is grossly selfish to require of one's neighbour that he should think in the same way, and hold the same opinions. Why should he? If he can think, he will probably think differently. If he cannot think, it is monstrous to require thought of any kind from him.”

IfsThinkingMenWayShouldKindDoeOpinionSelfishNeighbourMonstrous
Book:The Artist as Critic: Critical Writings of Oscar Wilde
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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.”

PersonsFeelingsDesireReligionValuesAbilitySelfishAspirationEnlightenedScience And ReligionLiberatedFettersPersonal ValuesSelfish Desire
Book:Out of My Later Years: The Scientist, Philosopher, and Man Portrayed Through His Own Words
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