self-interest

n.

1. Selfish or excessive regard for one's personal advantage or interest.
2. Personal advantage or interest.

self-interested self'-in'ter·est·ed adj.

n

Definition: self-seeking
Antonyms: altruism, generosity

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Regard exclusively to one's own advantage. The false belief that rationality and self-interest are the same thing has bedevilled rational-choice approaches to politics. Because examples of altruism are all around us, many people have rejected rational choice out of hand. Some careless or provocative statements by leading rational-choice theorists such as Anthony Downs and Gordon Tullock have encouraged this misconception. A better approach is to say that, until evidence to the contrary is produced, it is best to assume that people are neither more nor less self-interested in politics than in the rest of social life.

Quotes:

"Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender." - Henri Frederic Amiel

"Remember how often you have postponed minding your interest, and let slip those opportunities the gods have given you. It is now high time to consider what sort of world you are part of, and from what kind of governor of it you are descended; that you have a set period assigned you to act in, and unless you improve it to brighten and compose your thoughts, it will quickly run off with you, and be lost beyond recovery." - Marcus Aurelius

"The ruin of the human heart is self-interest, which the American merchant calls self-service. We have become a self-service populace, and all our specious comforts --the automatic elevator, the escalator, the cafeteria --are depriving us of volition and moral and physical energy." - Edward Dahlberg

"A wise unselfishness is not a surrender of yourself to the wishes of anyone, but only to the best discoverable course of action." - David Seabury

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages." - Adam Smith

"The punters know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race." - Gough Whitlam

See more famous quotes about Self-interest

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - egenkærlighed, egennytte, egeninteresse

Nederlands (Dutch)
eigenbelang, zelfzucht

Français (French)
n. - intérêt personnel

Deutsch (German)
n. - Eigeninteresse

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ιδιοτέλεια

Italiano (Italian)
tornaconto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - interesse pessoal

Русский (Russian)
своекорыстие

Español (Spanish)
n. - egoísmo, interés propio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - egennytta, eget intresse, egenintresse

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
利己主义, 私利, 私心

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 利己主義, 私利, 私心

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 이기주의, 사리 사욕, 사리 추구

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 私利, 私欲, 利己主義

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ألمصلحه ألشخصيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תועלת אישית, אינטרס עצמי, אנוכיות‬

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