That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.
The name and pretense of virtue is as serviceable to self-interest as are real vices.
It is one of the oldest maxims of moral prudence: Do not, by aspiring to what is impracticable, lose the opportunity of doing the good you can effect!
Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.
Even wisdom has to yield to self-interest.
Sincerity: willingness to spend one's own money.
What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.
The decline of manners, the cynical pursuit without shame or restraint of personal advantage and of money characterizes our times, not without exceptions, of course, but more than we ought to be comfortable with.
Is self-interest a bad thing? We want our leaders to be pure and good, but at the same time we want them to be effective, and to be effective you often have to be ruthless and not bound by ideology or the same morals that we pretend to hold ourselves to.
The word virtue is as useful to self-interest as the vices.