Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Americans also don't need to be taught how to give. We don't need to be taught how to take care of each other or how to be charitable.
We are selfish when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good for ourselves. We are altruistic when we are exclusively or predominantly concerned with the good of others.
We're all basically made of the same stuff: generosity and selfishness, goodness and greed.
We've been trained since kindergarten: Be nice, be kind, share, put on a smile. So we're conditioned to squash our natural selfish instincts, and that's the right thing for society.
What we call generosity is for the most part only the vanity of giving; and we exercise it because we are more fond of that vanity than of the thing we give.
Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race.
We must teach compassion and tolerance and encourage kindness, selflessness, and loving acceptance of all who are created in the image of God.
Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
This idea of selfishness as a virtue, as opposed to generosity: That, to me, is unnatural.
We, all of us, could do a much better job of evoking what someone has called the universal principle of human altruism: the urge in us all to help others who are in danger.