Robert Teeter Quotes

The sum of the whole is plainly this: The nature of man considered in his single capacity, and with respect only to the present world, is adapted and leads him to attain the greatest happiness he can for himself in the present world.

We do not want to think. We do not want to hear. We do not care about anything. Only give us a good dinner and plenty of money, and let us outshine our neighbors. There is the Nineteenth Century Gospel.

Egoism... is not eliminated by economic reorganization or by material abundance. When basic needs are satisfied, new 'needs' emerge. In our society, people want no simply clothes, but fashionable clothes; not shelter, but a house to display their wealth and taste.

Greed is the assumption that it is all for my consumption.

There is a number among us, young and old, of all sorts almost among us, that swarm up and down towns, and woods, and fields, whose care and work hitherto hath been like bees, only to get honey to their own hive.

Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only because nothing can be gained from him.

Human beings place their desires ahead of the collective good.

Secularism does not accept many things as absolutes. Its principal objectives are pleasure and self-interest. Often, those who embrace secularism have a different look about them.

In brief, egoism in its modern interpretation, is the antithesis, not of altruism, but of idealism.

Too many of us now tend to worship self indulgence and consumption.

Man is essentially a selfish creature. The differences in the degree with which this developed are infinite.

But I felt that most of us in the world today gave priority to our personal interests.

The corruption of the American soul is consumerism.

The world is so competitive, aggressive, consumive, selfish and during the time we spend here we must be all but that.

I'm just selfish. I have to be for what I do.

Like the 'little emperors' of one-child China, too many Boomers were taught early that the world was made (or saved) for their comfort and enjoyment. They behaved accordingly, with a self-indulgence that was wholly rational, given their situation.

I don't like people who are just takers.

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.

I'm selfish.

The kind of society which we still have is maybe, in some cases, getting worse. Competition is becoming a virtue. Intense competition drives people to go more and more into self-interest. Even to see other folks as competition.

I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled, and thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them.

The selfish spirit of commerce which knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.

The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.

Consumerist ads brainwash us into individualist and egotistic self-love.

We don't plan to be good or bad. We just think, 'What do I want now? I want coffee now. I want the paper now.'