Edmond de Goncourt Quotes

By removing that which is petty and self-seeking, we bring forth all that is glorious and mindful of the whole.

Our practice should be based on the ideal of selflessness. Selflessness is very difficult to understand. If you try to be selfless, that is already a selfish idea. Selflessness will be there when you do not try anything.

There is no doubt that in exchanging a self-centered for a selfless life we gain enormously in self-esteem. The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice utmost humility, is boundless.

Every act of charity, every thought of sympathy, every action of help, every good deed, is taking so much of self-importance away from our little selves and making us think of ourselves as the lowest and the least, and, therefore, it is all good. Here we find that Jnâna, Bhakti, and Karma - all come to one point.

Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.

I'm not comfortable with just me, me, me. That's boring.

It has always seemed strange to me. The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success.

Seek no praise, no reward, for anything you do. No sooner do we perform a good action than we begin to desire credit for it. No sooner do we give money to some charity than we want to see our names blazoned in the papers. Misery must come as the result of such desires.

Altruism is masked self-interest. Aggressive self-interest is a masked urge to self-destruction.

If faith is lacking, it is because there is too much selfishness, too much concern for personal gain. For faith to be true, it has to be generous and loving. Love and faith go together, they complete each other.

Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.

We probably have a greater love for those we support than for those who support us. Our vanity carries more weight than our self-interest.

Self sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow.

Salvation never will come through hope of reward.

We are beset by problems and if we look for their source, we find they arise because of our selfishness, because we tend to pursue our own interests at the expense of others. Our various religious traditions exist to help us reduce these problems. They all teach ways to overcome suffering through cultivating love and compassion, tolerance, patience and contentment.

The more we have given to ourselves, the more we have to give to others. When we find that place within ourselves that is giving, we begin to create an outward flow. Giving to others comes not from a sense of sacrifice, self-righteousness, or spirituality, but for the pure pleasure of it, because it's fun. Giving can only come from a full, loving space.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?'

He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we're going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it's our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it's because we're focused on ourselves!

I've certainly had a lot of experiences in my life where I was much too self-centered.

I don't like people who are just takers.

I was taught in school that I have to look out for number one. That was against everything that I intuitively felt.

Infinitely more important than sharing one's material wealth is sharing the wealth of ourselves - our time and energy, our passion and commitment, and, above all, our love.

I don't think of myself as doing good works. It's not, 'Oh, I must give these poor people a voice.'

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