It was the mystical dogma of Bentham and Adam Smith and the rest, that some of the worst of human passions would turn out to be all for the best. It was the mysterious doctrine that selfishness would do the work of unselfishness.
Selfishness, when it is punished by the world, is mostly punished because it is connected with egotism.
The rising sun can dispel the darkness of night, but it cannot banish the blackness of malice, hatred, bigotry, and selfishness from the hearts of humanity.
Others had been a little wild, which was not to be wondered at, and not very blamable; but, he had made a lamentation and uproar which it was dangerous for the people to hear, as there is always contagion in weakness and selfishness.
Scientists have discovered that the small brave act of cooperating with another person, of choosing trust over cynicism, generosity over selfishness, makes the brain light up with quiet joy.
Next to the young, I suppose the very old are the most selfish.
One of the worst things sin did for man was to make him selfish, for selfishness cannot love.
Courtesy is only a thin veneer on the general selfishness.
Caring for our own hearts isn't selfishness; it's how we begin to love.
Love. . . [is] a lack of personal selfishness.
The gospel of licentiousness, of selfishness, of blaming all the difficulties of life on external factors - these are the things that are killing people today in ways that the slave whips and the overseers couldn't.
I learned that no man in God's wide earth is either willing or able to help any other man.