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Selfishness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the true mother of ingratitude.

Selfishness (n.) pushed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to deny all friendship is less a vice than a stupidity: no one can fail to prefer one man to another.

Selfishness (n.) we ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠make allowance for in others, knowing it inseparable from human nature — so we do not blame a man for opposing us where his own interest is at stake.

Selfishness (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠no more opposed to benevolence than to ambition or revenge: self-love needs some original passion to give its objects relish, and none suits better than kindness.

Selfishness (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠been painted by certain philosophers as wide of nature as the monsters of fables: few love anyone better than themselves, but rarer still is the man whose kind affections together do not outweigh his selfish ones.