Selfishness

The quality or state of being selfish; exclusive regard to one's own interest or happiness; that supreme self-love or self-preference which leads a person to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interest, power, or happiness, without regarding those of others.

Selfishness, -- a vice utterly at variance with the happiness of him who harbors it, and, as such, condemned by self-love.

Syn. -- See Self-love.

noun

Concern only for oneself: egocentricity, egocentrism, egoism, egomania, self-absorption, self-centeredness, self-involvement. See self/other.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: stinginess resulting from a concern for your own welfare and a disregard of others
  Antonym: unselfishness (meaning #1)

Quotes:

"Selfishness is that detestable vice which no one will forgive in others, and no one is without himself." - Henry Ward Beecher

"Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscured by dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb, wisdom is hidden by selfish desire." - Bhagavad Gita

"Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself." - Julio Cortazar

"The force of selfishness is as inevitable and as calculable as the force of gravitation." - Hailliard

"Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Being sorry is the highest act of selfishness, seeing value only after discarding it." - Doug Horton

See more famous quotes about Selfishness

"Selfish" redirects here. For other uses, see Selfish (disambiguation).

Look up selfishness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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Selfishness denotes the precedence given in thought or deed to the self, i.e., self interest or self concern. It is the act of placing one's own needs or desires above the needs or desires of others.

Psychologist and primatologist Frans de Waal takes issue with those who equate "selfishness" with "self-serving." He argues that "Selfishness implies the intention to serve oneself, hence knowledge of what one stands to gain from a particular behavior".^[1] (2009, 13).

Selfishness is the opposite of altruism (selflessness).

The implications of selfishness have inspired divergent views within religious, philosophical, psychological, economic and evolutionary contexts.

References

1. ^ de Waal, Frans (2009). Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. Princeton University Press. pp. 13. ISBN 978-0-691-14129-9. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8240.html. 

See also

• Egoism
• Egotism
• Enlightened self-interest
• Ethic of reciprocity (the "Golden Rule")
• Generosity
• Indirect self-interest
• Little Miss Selfish
• Narcissism
• Objectivism
• Solipsism
• A Theory of Justice (by John Rawls)

Further reading

• Twilight of the Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche Penguin Classics; Reissue edition (February 15, 1990), ISBN 0140445145
• The Evolution of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02121-2
• The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins (1990), second edition—includes two chapters about the evolution of cooperation, ISBN 0-19-286092-5
• The Virtue of Selfishness, Ayn Rand, ISBN 0451163931

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