Niccolo Machiavelli Quotes

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

There's no such thing as altruism.

Men's moral principles are weak enough without their being made subordinate to selfishness; and their selfishness is quite active enough, without any such effort as Christianity makes to constitute it the mainspring of all their conduct.

I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.

People aren't universally heroic.

Men do not value a good deed unless it brings a reward.

Tis not what man Does which exalts him, but what man Would do!

The propensity to do good things is a choice.

We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.

It is the liberal philosophy, not the conservative one, that views humans as selfish automatons.

We must take man as we find him, and if we expect him to serve the public we must interest his passions in doing so.

The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.

Every action that we take has some motivation of either being selfish or altruistic. All that adds up.

Men never do good unless necessity drives them to it; but when they are free to choose and can do just as they please, confusion and disorder become rampant.

Altruism is a hard master, but so is opportunism.

Man is almost always as wicked as his needs require.

We aren't, as human beings, very good at acting in our best interest.

We are all ready to be savage in some cause. The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of the cause.

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

A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.

I'm very interested in good and evil and the moral natures of people.

Hollywood wants its heroes to be virtuous, but it defines virtue in a way that excludes any action that is self-interested. If virtue means putting others ahead of self, then it's clear that most people, let alone most capitalists, aren't very virtuous.

Human beings place their desires ahead of the collective good.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.