Selfish Quotes

• Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

  Khalil Gibran

  Wisdom, Laughing, Proud

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• I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion and elimination of ignorance, selfishness and greed.

  Dalai Lama

  Inspirational, Peace, Pain

  The 14th Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1989.

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• All suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.

  Dalai Lama

  Life, Spiritual, Pain

  The 14th Dalai Lama's Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1989.

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• Be not unwilling in what thou doest, neither selfish nor unadvised nor obstinate; let not over-refinement deck out thy thought; be not wordy nor a busybody.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Refinement, Busybodies, Deck

  "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, Book III, (5), (c. 161 - 180 AD).

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• Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.

  Richard Dawkins

  Philosophical, Thought Provoking, Generosity

  Richard Dawkins (2006). “The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition”, p.9, OUP Oxford

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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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• A life directed chiefly toward the fulfillment of personal desires will sooner or later always lead to bitter disappointment.

  Albert Einstein

  Inspirational, Life, Disappointment

  Albert Einstein (2010). “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, p.232, Princeton University Press

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• Selfishness is weakness. But loving and caring for others is a position of power beyond anything we can possibly imagine.

  Joel Osteen

  Love, Inspirational, Jesus

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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.

  H. Burke Peterson

  Drama, Add, May

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• Once you conquer your selfish self, all your darkness will change to light.

  Rumi

  Light, Darkness, Conquer

  Rumi (2018). “The Spiritual Poems of Rumi”, p.61, Wellfleet

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• To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve. And once you get to your highest level, then you have to be unselfish. Stay reachable. Stay in touch. Don't isolate.

  Michael Jordan

  Motivational, Success, Basketball

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• A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.

  Richard Whately

  Helping Others, Men, Kwanzaa

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• Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.

  William E. Gladstone

  Race, Curse, Humans

  Speech in Hawarden, Wales, May 28, 1890.

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• The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Honesty, Integrity, Philosophy

  "Stop the Madness". "The Globe and Mail" Newspaper, July 6, 2002.

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• Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.

  Karl Lagerfeld

  Happiness, Love Yourself, Sacrifice

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• Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without himself.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  War, Forgiving, Vices

  Henry Ward Beecher (1858). “Life Thoughts”, p.78

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• It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

  Andrew Jackson

  Powerful, Patriotic, Government

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• A selfish man is a thief.

  Jose Marti

  Men, Thieves, Selfish Men

  "Martí : Thoughts/Pensamientos". Book by Carlos Ripoll, 1994.

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• The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.

  Bryant H. McGill

  Liars, Lying, Coward

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• When you center life around yourself, not only do you miss out on God's best, but you rob other people of the joy and blessings that God wants to give them through you.

  Joel Osteen

  Inspirational, Life, God

  Joel Osteen (2015). “Daily Readings from You Can, You Will: 90 Devotions to Becoming a Winner”, p.161, Hachette UK

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• If you don't like me, remember it's mind over matter.
  I don't mind, and you don't matter.

  Dr. Seuss

  Mind, Matter, Remember

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• It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.

  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  Mistake, Emotion, Truth Is

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• Selfish, adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Selfishness, Consideration, Consideration For Others

  Ambrose Bierce (2011). “Ambrose Bierce: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs: The Devil's Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs”, p.799, Library of America

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• It is love rather than sexual lust or unbridled sexuality if, in addition to the need or want involved, there is also some impulse to give pleasure to the persons thus loved and not merely to use them for our own selfish pleasure.

  Mortimer Adler

  Giving, Lust, Needs

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• Next to the very young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.

  William Makepeace Thackeray

  Selfishness, Next, Young

  "The Virginians: A Tale of the Last Century".

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