remember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself.
 Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (1930). copy citation

edit
Author Bertrand Russell
Source The Conquest of Happiness
Topic motive altruism
Date 1930
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://russell-j.com/beginner/COH-TEXT.HTM

Context

“Disgusted and disillusioned, he retires from the world after the world has retired from him, and regrets that he ever attempted so thankless a task as the pursuit of the public good.
These illustrations suggest four general maxims, which will prove an adequate preventive of persecution mania if their truth is sufficiently realised. The first is: remember that your motives are not always as altruistic as they seem to yourself. The second is: don't overestimate your own merits. The third is: don't expect others to take as much interest in you as you do yourself. And the fourth is: don't imagine that most people give enough thought to you to have any special desire to persecute you.” source

Meaning and analysis

write a note
report