“Do not forget, some give little, and it is much for them, others give all, and it costs them no effort; who then has given most?”

Ne ressemblons-nous pas presque tous à ce vieux général de quatre-vingt-dix ans, qui, ayant rencontré de jeunes officiers qui faisaient un peu de désordre avec des filles, leur dit tout en colère: "Messieurs, est-ce là l’exemple que je vous donne?"
"Character" (1764)
Citas, Dictionnaire philosophique (1764)

Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)

Mesillat Yesharim (1738), Introduction

The Problem of Pain (1940)

"Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are" (2005), p. 243
Context: In 1879, American economist Francis Walker tried to explain why members of his profession were in such "bad odor amongst real people". He blamed it on their inability to understand why human behavior fails to comply with economic theory. We do not always act the way economists think we should, mainly because we're both less selfish and less rational than economists think we are. Economists are being indoctrinated into a cardboard version of human nature, which they hold true to such a degree that their own behavior has begun to resemble it. Psychological tests have shown that economics majors are more egoistic than the average college student. Exposure in class after class to the capitalist self-interest model apparently kills off whatever prosocial tendencies these students have to begin with. They give up trusting others, and conversely others give up trusting them. Hence the bad odor.

Podcast Series 2 Episode 2
On Nature

Source: "Social Behavior as Exchange," 1958, p. 606