Justin Gaethje Quotes

It is a just political maxim, that every man must be supposed a knave.

Nobody speaks the truth when there is something they must have.

When self-interested motives are strengthened by the apprehension of any danger, there are few persons who will not be induced by them to betray even their best friend.

We're selfish to some degree, that's not a criticism and it doesn't mean that we are all narcissists. But in any situation our minds naturally evolve to what's in it for me? How does this affect me? Can this benefit me? Can this harm me? Then we might move on from that and have a more altruistic point of view about things but that's almost always our initial response.

All our acts, reasoned and unreasoned, are selfish

Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself.

Egoism , which is the moving force of the world, and altruism , which is its morality , these two contradictory instincts , of which one is so plain and the other so mysterious, cannot serve us unless in the incomprehensible alliance of their irreconcilable antagonism.

All the shrewdness of 'man' seeks one thing: to be able to live without responsibility.

That spirit of freedom, which at the commencement of this contest would have gladly sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the public, but private interest, which influences the generality of mankind, nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these circumstances it would rather have been surprising if you had succeeded.

The cloven-foot of self-interest was now and then to be seen aneath the robe of public principle.

When a man makes his personal interests the mainspring of his life and he is greedy to make use of everything that can benefit him, he naturally enters into conflict with other persons, acting also in their own interests, hence the disagreements that can become a hundred years old, and drive whole generations to a mutual hate..

When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.

The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own.

No one expresses very great faith in the unselfishness of human being and everybody seems to acknowledge the fact that we must count on a certain amount of greed and willingness on the part of some human beings to prey upon others.

The major forces in human nature: self interest and caring for others

In contriving any system of government, and fixing the several checks and controls of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave, and to have no other end, in all his actions, than private interest.

The punters [gamblers] know that the horse named Morality rarely gets past the post, whereas the nag named Self-interest always runs a good race.

Men will always be powerfully influenced in their Opinions and Actions by what appears to be their particular Interest.

There is some pretty powerful self-interest in wanting a future that is not just running storm-to-storm. The argument that I make is not that we aren't competitive and selfish and greedy. We are. We're all of these things. We're complicated, competitive, greedy and nasty, and kind and generous and compassionate.

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.

It's the human condition. We gravitate to what's easy, things that are comfortable, convenient, pain-free, self-serving.

If you cash in on people, then they aren't your friends.

People always choose self-preservation over the greater good, most of the time, with the belief that self-preservation is the greater good.

I know I've cut corners in every single fight I've had because I've used my ability to get through.

Now, I know a lot of things in the big man's world are not what they seem: a lot of people are out for themselves, and you can't always trust what someone says.