James Mirrlees Quotes

I think most people act in their self-interest.

Wishful thinking is not idealism. It is self-indulgence at best and self-exaltation at worst. In either case, it is usually at the expense of others. In other words, it is the opposite of idealism.

Man is essentially a selfish creature. The differences in the degree with which this developed are infinite.

But I felt that most of us in the world today gave priority to our personal interests.

Those who joined us for selfish personal reasons, for a career or other motives will be the ones to leave.

We really can't tell the difference between people who might seek power for some greater good and people who seek power just to aggrandize themselves. For example, all revolutionaries say that they want to uplift the downtrodden.

People are motivated by the desires for privilege, for power, for profit. Those are not shocking revelations. Anyone who's had any experience in life knows these things.

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.

He who acts with a constant view to his own advantage will be much murmured against.

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.

I'm selfish.

When I was a player, I worried only about myself. Good money and easy work.

Ambition is the mother of hypocrisy and prefers to skulk in corners and dark places. It cannot endure the light of day. It is an unclean vice wallowing in the depths, always hidden, but with ever an eye to advancement.

Self interest is a masterful agent in modern civilization.

For Trump, it's always about Trump and how he makes more money.

The common class of mankind are actuated by no nobler principle than that of self-interest; this and this alone determines all adventurers in privateers: the owners, as well as those whom they employ.

I think Don King has always been an idiot in my mind. He's always been about money. I don't think he cares about anything else but himself.

No man will work for your interests unless they are his.

We're not all nice, and there are a lot of levels of ambition and niceness.

When someone asks, 'Does success make you into a monster?' I always say, 'No, it enables you to be a monster.'

Power tends to protect itself merely to maintain its own status and control. Principle gives up power for the sake of creating the best public policy.

It's an ugly thing to see ambition and to see people satisfying themselves.

me-firstism

No one can expect a majority to be stirred by motives other than ignoble.