“Man is naturally more disposed to beneficent than selfish actions.”

Source: The Limits of State Action (1792), Ch. 8
Context: Man is naturally more disposed to beneficent than selfish actions. This we learn even from the history of savages. The domestic virtues have something in them so inviting and genial, and the public virtues of the citizen something so grand and inspiring, that even he who is barely uncorrupted, is seldom able to resist their charm.

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Wilhelm Von Humboldt 35
German (Prussian) philosopher, government functionary, dipl… 1767–1835

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