People acting in their own self-interest is the fuel for all the discovery, innovation, and prosperity that powers the world.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I think most people act in their self-interest.
People know things and have a remarkable capacity to act in their individual immediate interests all the time.
Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls. Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age.
The beginning of self-knowledge: recognizing that your motives are the same as other people's.
I actually think that self-interest is overrated as an all-purpose guide to political motive. It leaves out something at least as powerful and immovable - individual psychology.
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.
Part of diplomacy is to open different definitions of self-interest.
We hope the world will act in the spirit of enlightened self-interest.
You've got to invest your own time, invest your own resources into creating a better world, not only for yourself but for the people you surround yourself with.
Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.