#Politics #ukpol #ukpolitics #uspol #usPolitics #apathy #Pericles #selfinterest #selfinvolved #selfish #selfcentred #selfcentered #selfintererested #quote #quotes

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Self-interest will set all sorts of virtues and vices in motion.
 
[L’intérêt met en œuvre toutes sortes de vertus et de vices.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶253 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #enlightenedselfinterest #interest #motivation #selfinterest #selfserving #selfishness #vice #virtue

Be a #generalist! Having #multipleinterests is a #superpower in today’s world, contrary to societal norms that favour #specialisation.

The key to turning these interests into a lucrative career lies in #selfeducation, #selfinterest, and #selfsufficiency.

By pursuing multiple interests, individuals can develop a unique perspective and create value that cannot be easily replicated.

👉 https://letters.thedankoe.com/p/if-you-have-multiple-interests-do?RemoteLead.in #RemoteFirst #RemoteLead #RemoteWork #HybridWork #Homeoffice

Lee Anderson, Nadine Dorries, Jonathan Gullis, Malcolm Offord, Nadhim Zahawi, Andrea Jenkyns & now Robert Jenrick!
I've finally understood why it's called the Reform Party - it's just the Conservative Party that's being Re-formed.
#Rebranding #RatsAndSinkingShips #SelfInterest

A quotation from John Adams

Every Man must seriously set himself to root out his Passions, Prejudices and Attachments, and to get the better of his private Interest. The only reputable Principle and Doctrine must be that all Things must give Way to the public.

John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1776-04-16) to Mercy Otis Warren

More about this quote: wist.info/adams-john/81374/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #johnadams #commongood #commoninterest #community #democracy #mutuality #privateinterest #publicgood #publicservice #republic #selfcontrol #selfdenial #selfinterest #selfmastery #selfpolicing #selfrespect #selfsacrifice #society

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.
 
[Les vertus se perdent dans l’intérêt, comme les fleuves se perdent dans la mer.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶171 (1665-1678) [tr. Whichello (2016)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #selfcenteredness #selfinterest #selfsatisfaction #selfishness #virtue

Extreme individualism and the entrepreneurial self of neoliberalism are 'clogging up courts' of Western democracy
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-21/growing-number-sovereign-citizens-clogging-australias-courts/106035790
#individualism #HyperIndividualism #neoliberalism #Liberalism #libertarians #SelfInterest #extremism #citizens #judicature #state #law #constitution #legitimacy #interdependency #TheCommons #society #governance

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 10 “Is Happiness Still Possible?” (1930)

More info about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/800…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #dissatisfaction #happiness #perspective #selfcenteredness #selfinterest #selfishness

Pattern to the pardons??? #SelfInterest not sure drumpf could be more obvious
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/23/binance-trump-pardon-changpeng-zhao?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1937-01-20), Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C.

More info about this quote: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #franklinroosevelt #fdr #franklindroosevelt #franklindelanoroosevelt #avarice #capitalism #economics #greed #morality #policy #power #profit #prosperity #selfinterest #selfishness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1775), “Taxation No Tyranny”

More info about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/19474…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #SamuelJohnson #community #freerider #greed #neighbor #selfcenteredness #selfinterest #selfishness #society

#Wallace anticipated a “new vision of the #U.S.A. as an atomized mass of watchers and appearers.” Instead of participating in a “community of #relationships” we become locked into “ #networks of strangers connected by #self-interest and #technology.” www.honest-broker.com/p/david-fost...

David Foster Wallace Tried to ...

A quotation from Wendell Berry

What could be more absurd, to begin with, than our attitude of high moral outrage against other nations for manufacturing the selfsame weapons that we manufacture? The difference, as our leaders say, is that we will use these weapons virtuously, whereas our enemies will use them maliciously — a proposition that too readily conforms to a proposition of much less dignity: we will use them in our interest, whereas our enemies will use them in theirs.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1999), “The Failure of War,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

More info about this quote: wist.info/berry-wendell/17802/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #wendellberry #arms #enemies #foreignaffairs #foreignpolicy #foreignrelations #hypocrisy #internationalaffairs #internationalrelations #selfinterest #selfrighteousness #war #weapons

A quotation from Judith Martin

Q. Is it ever acceptable to be rude?
 
A. No. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to let people walk all over you. Etiquette does not render you defenseless. If it did; even I wouldn’t subscribe to it. But rudeness in retaliation for rudeness just doubles the amount of rudeness in the world.

Judith Martin (b. 1938) American author, journalist, etiquette expert [a.k.a. Miss Manners]
Interview (2011-08), “Q and A with Miss Manners,” by Arcynta Ali Childs, Smithsonian magazine

More info about this quote: wist.info/martin-judith/78705/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #judithmartin #missmanners #etiquette #impoliteness #retaliation #rudeness #selfcontrol #selfdefeating #selfdefense #selfdiscipline #selfesteem #selfinterest #selfpossession #selfpreservation #toxicity

A quotation from Robert Herrick

’Twixt kings and tyrants there’s this difference known:
Kings seek their subjects’ good; tyrants their own.

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) English poet
“Kings and Tyrants,” Hesperides, # 861 (1648)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/herrick-robert/78445…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertherrick #despot #dictator #king #leader #leadership #ruler #selfaggrandizement #selfinterest #socialcontract #tyranny #tyrant

A quotation from La Rochefoucauld

Our repentance is not so much regret for the evil we have done, as fear of its consequences to us.
 
[Notre repentir n’est pas tant un regret du mal que nous avons fait, qu’une crainte de celui qui nous en peut arriver.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶180 (1665-1678) [ed. Gowens (1851), ¶187]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #consequences #dread #fear #punishment #regret #remorse #sin #repentance #retribution #selfinterest

A quotation from Molière

My first reaction was to be afraid
This ardor was a snare the Devil had laid;
And I avoided you as a temptation
That might stand in the way of my salvation.
But finally I knew, O gracious beauty,
That passion need not be at odds with duty,
That I can reconcile it with propriety;
And so I yield to it without anxiety.
 
[D’abord j’appréhendai que cette ardeur secrète
Ne fût du noir esprit une surprise adroite;
Et même à fuir vos yeux mon cœur se résolut,
Vous croyant un obstacle à faire mon salut.
Mais enfin je connus, ô beauté tout aimable!
Que cette passion peut n’être point coupable,
Que je puis l’ajuster avecque la pudeur;
Et c’est ce qui m’y fait abandonner mon cœur.]

Molière (1622-1673) French playwright, actor [stage name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin]
Tartuffe, or the Hypocrite [Le Tartuffe, ou L’Imposteur], Act 3, sc. 3 (1669) [tr. Frame (1967)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/moliere/78379/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #moliere #tartuffe #ardor #carnality #decency #devil #justification #lust #passion #rationalization #temptation #selfinterest

A quotation from Franklin Roosevelt

I believe that the recent course of our history has demonstrated that, while we may utilize their expert knowledge of certain problems and the special facilities with which they are familiar, we cannot allow our economic life to be controlled by that small group of men whose chief outlook upon the social welfare is tinctured by the fact that they can make huge profits from the lending of money and the marketing of securities — an outlook which deserves the adjectives “selfish” and “opportunist.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933-1945)
Speech (1932-05-22), Commencement, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-d…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #franklinroosevelt #franklindroosevelt #fdr #bankers #conflictofinterest #economicplanning #economy #financiers #lending #oligarchy #opportunist #profit #socialwelfare #stockmarket #wealth #selfishness #selfinterest

A quotation from John Maynard Keynes

[Capitalism is] the astonishing belief that the nastiest motives of the nastiest men somehow or other work for the best results in the best of all possible worlds.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) English economist
(Attributed)

Vague sourcing, extensive notes: wist.info/keynes-john-maynard/…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #keynes #avarice #benefits #capitalism #commongood #commonwealth #endsandmeans #evil #greed #idealism #meme #motivation #nastiness #optimum #results #selfinterest #wealth #wickedness