Gayle Forman Quotes

When I was in grade school and we had to write papers about what we wanted to be when we grew up, I wanted to be a social worker or a missionary or a teacher... Then I got involved with tennis, and everything was just me, me, me. I was totally selfish and thought about myself and nobody else, because if you let up for one minute, someone was going to come along and beat you. I really wouldn't let anyone or any slice of happiness enter... I didn't like the characteristics that it took to become a champion.

Selfish is easy. It's sharing that takes courage.

Because in some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons--throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to.

Shall I, to please another wine-sprung minde, Lose all mine own? God hath giv'n me a measure Short of His can and body; must I find A pain in that, wherein he finds a pleasure?

The hardest work you and I will ever do is to put off our selfishness. It is heavy lifting!

I'm trying to teach people not to be selfish. That's the thing. If you have a good thing share it. Of course we're not in a sexual relationship.

The act of willingly subtracting from one's own limited store of the good and the agreeable for the sake of adding to that of others reflects the understanding that individual happiness needs a base broader than the mere satisfaction of selfish passions. From there, it is not such a large step to the realization that respecting the susceptibilities and rights of others is as important as defending one's own susceptibilities and rights if civilized society is to be safeguarded.

Self-deprecating or arrogant, it's all selfish. Hard as it is, life's better when you spend more time on the rest of the world

Doing the right thing for someone else occasionally means doing something that feels wrong to you.

Selfish— a judgment readily passed by those who have never tested their own power of sacrifice.

It's kind of a reflex for me to ignore my own wishes and think about other people first.

The happiest is the man who is not at all selfish.

America was built on rugged individualism, and today that has evolved into a culture of narcissism. But God didn't create you to live for you. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to put aside your selfish ambition.

Altruism is for those who cannot endure their desires.

I'm a really selfish person. But I would do anything for my friends.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

It's better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost.

Sometimes you have to be selfish to be selfless.

I fight for other people better than I fight for myself.

I'm really interested in the difference between selfishness and generosity. It confuses me to no end because sometimes it all just feels like pure indulgence on my part.

And if the great fear had not come upon me, as it did, and forced me to do my duty, I might have been less good to the people than some man who had never dreamed at all, even with the memory of so great a vision in me.

There is nothing more noble than putting yourself in the line of fire to save a life.

I'm not saving lives.

It so happens that after a certain stage, we have to give in to the wishes of the people rather than your own satisfaction. I look at it as my responsibility to satisfy the wishes of the people more than mine.