Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.

About Oscar Wilde

Portrait of Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential dramatists in London in the early 1890s. He was a key figure in...

More quotations from Oscar Wilde

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

As one reads history… one is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; and a community is infinitely more brutalized by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of crime.

history crime cruelty punishment community

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

I am not young enough to know everything.

There's nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.

More quotations tagged with “selfishness”

The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.

—Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project

happiness belief effort generosity feelings discipline energy unhappiness selfishness care selflessness lightheartedness

Self-love, self-respect, self-approval, and self-worth do not equal self-ish.

—Mandy Hale in The Single Woman

love self respect self-worth self-love approval self-respect selfishness

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

—Gustave Flaubert

health happiness stupidity selfishness

The more we take the welfare of others to heart and work for their benefit, the more benefit we derive for ourselves. This is a fact we can see. And the more selfish we remain and self-centered, the more selfish our way of life is, the lonelier we feel and the more miserable. This is also a fact we can see.

—14th Dalai Lama

life others loneliness heart selfishness care welfare benefit

Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

love selfishness

History

11 Jul 2015 Added