The selfishness of men is animated by the few possessions we have, in proportion to our wants
 David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1738). copy citation

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Author David Hume
Source A Treatise of Human Nature
Topic selfishness possession
Date 1738
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4705/4705-h/4705-h.htm

Context

“nor would there be any occasion for those distinctions and limits of property and possession, which at present are in use among mankind. Encrease to a sufficient degree the benevolence of men, or the bounty of nature, and you render justice useless, by supplying its place with much nobler virtues, and more valuable blessings. The selfishness of men is animated by the few possessions we have, in proportion to our wants; and it is to restrain this selfishness, that men have been obliged to separate themselves from the community, and to distinguish betwixt their own goods and those of others. Nor need we have recourse to the fictions of poets to learn this;” source