#selfishness

Twin-sister of Religion, Selfishness. ↗

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

#selfishness

Selfish- a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice. ↗

— George Eliot

#sacrifice

What Douglas had once seen as the attractive over-confidence of youth, now looked more like unyielding selfishness. ↗

— Len Deighton

#love #selfishness #ss-gb #youth #love

Unconditional love. That’s what he wants to give her and what he wants from her. People should give without wanting anything in return. All other giving is selfish. But he is being selfish a little, isn’t he, by wanting her to love him in return? He hopes that she loves him in return. Is it possible for a person to love without wanting love back? Is anything so pure? Or is love, by its nature, a reciprocity, like oceans and clouds, an evaporating of seawater and a replenishing of rain? ↗

— Alan Lightman

#selfishness #love

She also keeps talking about the Billie Holiday record she bought for me. And she says she wants to expose me to all these great things. And to tell you the truth, I don't really want to be exposed to all these great things if it means that I'll have to listen to Mary Elizabeth talk about all the great things she exposed me to all the time. It almost feels like of the three things involved: Mary Elizabeth, me, and the great things, only the first one matters to Mary Elizabeth. I don't understand that. I would give someone a record so they could love the record, not so they would always know that I gave it to them. ↗

— Stephen Chbosky

#gifts #histrionic-people #kindness #love #obnoxious-people

She also understood there was a hole in her heart where her son should be, that she was a wicked, selfish woman for wishing him back. ↗

— Shannon Celebi

#mother #motherhood #mothers #mothers-love #selfish

What is it about the American obsession with productivity and responsibility that makes it so difficult for us to allow ourselves a little time to solve the puzzle of our own lives, before it’s too late? ↗

— Elizabeth Gilbert

#selfishness #travel #love

The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder. ↗

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

#greed #materialism #needs #selfishness #vice

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action. ↗

— Daniel Goleman

#empathy #selfishness #social-intelligence #intelligence

Relinquishing selfish wants, one is free to allow others to travel their own paths under the will of God. (18) ↗

— Prem Prakash

#freedom #god #god-s-will #selfishness #spiritual-paths