Iroquois Nation Quotes

Why we should put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?

It is the essence of responsibility to put the public good ahead of personal gain.

I'm bothered when people don't understand that they have an obligation to use their best measure of devotion, of resources, to sacrifice for the common good.

I try to persuade people to act in ways that are not only in their own interest, but in the interest of society at large.

To be interested in the public good we must be disinterested, that is, not interested in goods in which our personal selves are wrapped up.

How few aim at the good of the whole, without aiming too much at the prosperity of the parts!

Join cooperatively with one another, put aside self-interest, and take on service to the public …

We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.

The wisdom of the few may be the light of mankind, but the interest of the few is not the profit of mankind, nor of a commonwealth.

Men in their private capacities may be allowed to prefer their single profit, but should consult only the general good in public councils.

…working not for the small pleasures of today but for the future security and improvement of the race.

It's time to put country ahead of party. It's time to put the next generation ahead of the next election.

We need leaders who appeal to us to think about something other than narrow self-interest but instead focus upon the greater good.

Democracy is based upon empathy and the recognition that some decisions are solely for the community's benefit without regard to one's own narrow self-interest.

The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.

Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.

He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.

The virtues are lost in self-interest as rivers are lost in the sea.

Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender.

Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?

Private passions tire and exhaust themselves, public ones never.

I feel that the world is increasingly about the bottom line, and not so much about human respect or human dignity. In that regard, people who care about other people will not be in a position to make choices and do things that other people who they're competing against will get to do.

Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.

A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.