Selfish Quotes

It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.

~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I want to speak directly to the audience, to say, 'I'm like you - I'm frustrated, I'm not an expert, I don't have a manual on parenting, I make mistakes, I'm selfish too.'

~ Bernie Mac

My dad was not super-intentional in his parenting. He was very self-absorbed. I won't say mean or selfish per se, but very self-absorbed. I think he was just thinking out loud.

~ Angela Duckworth

I don't think there's such a thing as a selfish prayer. Prayer puts you in communication so you can talk about whatever you want to talk about.

~ Iyanla Vanzant

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

~ David Bowie

It is selfish to concern oneself with tragedies.

~ Rose Kennedy

It's enough to indulge and to be selfish but true happiness is really when you start giving back.

~ Adrian Grenier

An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness.

~ Clara Barton

My work requires acting at its most committed - it demands actors of enormous resilience, but also intelligence and wit. It doesn't work for narcissistic or selfish actors.

~ Mike Leigh

And, one thing I definitely enjoyed personally, from a selfish point of view, was exploration and going to places that I had never been to before and learning, you know, meeting the people and getting to know, new sights and sounds, etc.

~ Duane G. Carey

People have evolved into something selfish, greedy and intolerant. People are unaccepting, because of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation... I've seen it in punk clubs, and I've seen it in the world.

~ Gerard Way

Young women especially have something invested in being nice people, and it's only when you have children that you realise you're not a nice person at all, but generally a selfish bully.

~ Fay Weldon

I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I'm out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.

~ Marilyn Monroe

It's good to be selfish. But not so self-centered that you never listen to other people.

~ Hugh Hefner

A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.

~ Richard Whately

I always said if it gets to a point where I really want a child, I would adopt; kids are amazing, so I'm getting the selfish stuff out of my system so when I have them I can say, 'Go, run. I have plenty of money, go play.'

~ Sandra Bullock

In Europe first and now in America, elected men have taken it upon themselves to indebt their people to create an atmosphere of dependency. And why? For their own selfish need to increase their own personal power.

~ Pope Francis

Let us understand what our own selfish genes are up to because we may then at least have the chance to upset their designs.

~ Richard Dawkins

I have a pet peeve about bands that don't play their hits. I think it's kind of selfish.

~ Art Alexakis

In documentary filmmaking, there's a tradition of telling stories about victims. We often do that from a very patronizing place, but mostly we do it from a very selfish place, to reassure ourselves that our lives are in sympathy and solidarity with the victims.

~ Joshua Oppenheimer

Marriage is a mystery, and part of it is just being kind to each other, not being selfish.

~ Aisha Tyler

In almost every marriage there is a selfish and an unselfish partner. A pattern is set up and soon becomes inflexible, of one person always making the demands and one person always giving way.

~ Iris Murdoch

In marriage, a man becomes slack and selfish, and undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being.

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

We are all selfish and I no more trust myself than others with a good motive.

~ Lord Byron

I've never really understood the criticism that climbing is inherently selfish, since it could equally be argued about virtually any other hobby or sport. Is gardening selfish?

~ Alex Honnold

We imagine that we want to escape our selfish and commonplace existence, but we cling desperately to our chains.

~ Anne Sullivan

The sad thing is most people have to check with someone before they do the things that make them happy. We're all passing through; the least we can do is be happy, and the only way to do that is by being selfish.

~ Gene Simmons

I've been a pretty selfish mom and a very unselfish athlete for about three years now and it's time to put my family first. It's probably time to move on.

~ Melanie Roach

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

~ Andrew Jackson

People are so docile right now. It is almost as if good government means when the politicians lie to us for our own good, for the public good, and bad government is when politicians lie for their own selfish interests.

~ James Bovard

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

~ Khalil Gibran

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.

~ Bryan Cranston

The customer is a remarkably selfish person: He takes the relationship to where the execution is in his favor.

~ Azim Premji

It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous.

~ Jean-Paul Sartre

The truth is, I think we are a self-less society, not a selfish society. Because we're so busy now.

~ Phil Mcgraw

And books that were published in much larger numbers than Selfish, Little are hard to find. And publishers who wanted to publish my last few works have them stuck in limbo while new distribution ideas and legal issues and fears are blown away.

~ Peter Sotos

I've never heard my dad say a bad word about anybody. He always keeps his emotions in check and is a true gentleman. I was taught that losing it was indulgent, a selfish act.

~ Hugh Jackman