Mastodawn

Self-interest will set all sorts of virtues and vices in motion.

[L’intérêt met en œuvre toutes sortes de vertus et de vices.]

François VI, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French epigrammatist, memoirist, noble
Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶253 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/la-rochefoucauld-fra…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #larochefoucauld #enlightenedselfinterest #interest #motivation #selfinterest #selfserving #selfishness #vice #virtue

La Rochefoucauld, Francois - Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales [Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims], ¶253 (1665-1678) [tr. FitzGibbon (1957)] | WIST Quotations

Self-interest will set all sorts of virtues and vices in motion. [L’intérêt met en œuvre toutes sortes de vertus et de vices.] Present in the 1st (1665) edition. In the manuscript form it reads "L’intérêt donne toutes sortes de vertus et de vices." See also ¶¶ 171, 305. (Source (French)).…

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WIST Quotations Jan 7

A quotation from Bastiat

When plunder has become a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

[Lorsque la Spoliation est devenue le moyen d’existence d’une agglomération d’hommes unis entre eux par le lien social, ils se font bientôt une loi qui la sanctionne, une morale qui la glorifie.]

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) French philosopher, economist, politician
Economic Sophisms [Sophismes Économiques], 2nd Series, ch. 1 “Physiology of Plunder [Physiologie de la Spoliation]” (1848) [tr. Goddard (1964)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/bastiat-frederic/395…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bastiat #fredericbastiat #robbery #corruption #exploitation #legalsystem #morality #plunder #plutocracy #selfserving #system #theft #meme

Ken Larson Oct 12

It is time To RETIRE THE PHRASE 'MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX'. Americans must be vigilant to guard against a self-serving “National Security Establishment,”
https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2025/10/12/time-to-retire-the-phrase-military-industrial-complex/
#NationalDefenseEstablishment #SelfServing

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Sep 18, 2025

A quotation from Josh Billings

The quickest way to take the starch out ov a man who iz allwuss blameing himself, is to agree with him, this aint what he iz looking for.

[The quickest way to take the starch out of a man who is always blaming himself, is to agree with him; this ain’t what he is looking for.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1875-11 (1875 ed.)

More info about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/79006/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #blame #criticism #falsemodesty #pretense #selfblame #selfcriticism #selfdeprecation #selfeffacing #selfserving

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 8, 2025

A quotation from The Bible

   When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
   “But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
   “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

   [Ἔλεγεν δὲ πρὸς τοὺς κεκλημένους παραβολήν, ἐπέχων πῶς τὰς πρωτοκλισίας ἐξελέγοντο, λέγων πρὸς αὐτούς, Ὅταν κληθῇς ὑπό τινος εἰς γάμους, μὴ κατακλιθῇς εἰς τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν, μήποτε ἐντιμότερός σου ᾖ κεκλημένος ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐλθὼν ὁ σὲ καὶ αὐτὸν καλέσας ἐρεῖ σοι, Δὸς τούτῳ τόπον, καὶ τότε ἄρξῃ μετὰ αἰσχύνης τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον κατέχειν.
   ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν κληθῇς, πορευθεὶς ἀνάπεσε εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον, ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ κεκληκώς σε ἐρεῖ σοι, Φίλε, προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον· τότε ἔσται σοι δόξα ἐνώπιον πάντων τῶν συνανακειμένων σοι.
   ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται, καὶ ὁ ταπεινῶν ἑαυτὸν ὑψωθήσεται.]

The Bible (The New Testament) (AD 1st - 2nd C) Christian sacred scripture
Luke 14: 7-11 (Jesus) [NRSV (2021 ed.)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/bible-nt/13303/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bible #newtestament #jesus #firstshallbelast #honor #humbleness #humility #importance #prestige #pride #rank #selfaggrandizing #selfdeprecation #selfglorification #selfimportance #selfpromotion #selfregard #selfserving

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jun 4, 2025

A quotation from Kurt Vonnegut

Fascism was a fairly popular political philosophy which made sacred whatever nation and race the philosopher happened to belong to.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) American novelist, journalist
Breakfast of Champions, ch. 17 (1973)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/vonnegut-kurt-jr/768…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #kurtvonnegut #fascism #ideology #nationalism #politics #racism #selfaggrandizing #selfserving #usvsthem

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Kevin Russell Apr 22, 2025

@sellathechemist @Thebratdragon @JugglingWithEggs @UKLabour

It does not serve rhe British people, tiger. It is a disservice.

BBC
World News Disservice.
Clink clink clank clank denk.

#uklabour #labour #lies #bullfluent
#fertilizer #dishonest #selfserving
#broom #cleanUp

Preston Austin Jan 28, 2025

#Please #sell #more of your #cool #stuff and #services and #art and #music en la #fedi.

I will — in #solidarity with your #crass #SelfServing effort to get monetary #permission you use to let others know they're #allowed to give you #food to eat and #housing to sleep under a roof and such without themselves #increasing their #risk under #capitalism of having neither — at least block people who complain about it.

Don't mistake this for endorsing #advertising and #sponsorships, because I do not.

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jan 26, 2025

A quotation from Franklin Adams

When the political columnists say “Every thinking man,” they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to “Every intelligent voter,” they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.

Franklin Pierce Adams (1881-1960) American journalist and humorist
Nods and Becks, “Inside ‘Information, Please!'” (1944)

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-franklin-pierc…

#quote #quotes #quotation #candidate #compliment #intelligence #meme #politics #pundit #self-serving #supporter

Nods and Becks, "Inside 'Information, Please!'" (1944) - Adams, Franklin P. | WIST Quotations

When the political columnists say "Every thinking man," they mean themselves, and when candidates appeal to "Every intelligent voter," they mean everybody who is going to vote for them.

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Pianozzino Jan 22, 2025

Let the games begin 🍿 #fop #gop #trump #pardons #police #assault #penalties #termlimit #selfcentered #selfserving #civilwar youtu.be/NJ3vVheA0h0?...

Let's talk about The FOP and G...

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