Quotes about interest
page 47

Jean Paul Sartre photo
Edgar Rice Burroughs photo
Alexander Fraser Tytler photo

“It is not, perhaps, unreasonable to conclude, that a pure and perfect democracy is a thing not attainable by man, constituted as he is of contending elements of vice and virtue, and ever mainly influenced by the predominant principle of self-interest. It may, indeed, be confidently asserted, that there never was that government called a republic, which was not ultimately ruled by a single will, and, therefore, (however bold may seem the paradox,) virtually and substantially a monarchy.”

Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747–1813) Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian

[Universal History: From the Creation of the World to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century, Vol. I, Book II, Chapter 6, 216, Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, Alexander Fraser, Petridge and Company, 1854, http://books.google.com/books?id=6FKHIeUQ2J0C&pg=PA216&vq=It+is+not,+perhaps,+unreasonable+to+conclude,+that+a+pure+and+perfect+democracy&source=gbs_search_r&cad=1_1]

Joseph Nechvatal photo
Thomas Szasz photo
Ayn Rand photo
Martin Amis photo
Leszek Kolakowski photo
Herbert Marcuse photo
Leonid Hurwicz photo
Chris Rea photo
Noam Chomsky photo
Roy Jenkins photo
Gertrude Stein photo
Frances Kellor photo

“A second principle of Americanization is identity of economic interest. At this time, after all America has united to win the war, one hesitates to turn a page so shameful in American history. And yet, if America reverts to its former industrial brutality and indifference, Americanization will fail. Identity of economic interest, generally speaking, has meant to the American getting the immigrant to work for him at as low a wage as possible, for as long hours as possible, and scrapping him at the end of the game, with as little compunction as he did an old machine. And the immigrant's successful fellow-countryman, elevated to be a private banker, a padrone, or a notary public, has shared the practices of the native American. Always the immigrant has been in positions of the greatest danger, and with less safeguards for his care. He has been called by number and nicknamed and ridiculed. Frequently trades-unions have excluded him from their benefits, compensation laws have discriminated against him, trades have been closed to him, until he has wondered in the bitterness of his spirit what American opportunity was and how he could pursue life, liberty, and happiness at his work. Whenever he has been discontented, the popular remedy has been higher wages or shorter hours, and rarely the expansion of personal relationships. Very little self-determination has been given to him; on the contrary he has been made a cog in a highly organized industrial machine. His spirit has been imprisoned in the hum of machinery. His special gifts have been lost, even as his lack of skill in mechanical work has injured delicate processes and priceless materials. His pride has been humiliated and his initiative stifled because he has been given little of the artisan's pleasure in seeing his finished product.”

Frances Kellor (1873–1952) American sociologist

What is Americanization? (1919)

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall photo

“English students don't spend much time on their studies. They're more interested in partying and having fun.”

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (1947) second wife of Prince Charles

The Duchess of Cornwall compares hardworking Pakistani students to the National Union of Students, October 2006.
Guardian, 5 Nov 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2006/nov/05/7days.observermain

Frederic G. Kenyon photo
Eben Moglen photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Bell Hooks photo
Andy Kessler photo

“It was what I didn't know about that always seemed more interesting.”

Andy Kessler (1958) American writer

Part I, Raising Funds, Hedgies, p. 24.
Running Money (2004) First Edition

Charlie Brooker photo
Shepard Smith photo

“It's my show, and there's no place for opinion on my show. It's uninteresting to me. I don't care what Sean Hannity thinks and I don't care what Alan Colmes thinks and I guarantee they don't care what I think and they don't know, either. You know what's interesting to me? What's interesting to me is that the thing people want to know about is the part on which I spend absolutely no time.”

Shepard Smith (1964) television news anchor from the United States

As quoted in "Interview with Shepard Smith" https://web.archive.org/web/20120501134518/http://www.esquire.com/features/shepard-smith-fox-news-0309-2 (February 10, 2009), by Tom Junod, Esquire, Hearst Communications Inc.
2000s

Dio Chrysostom photo
George C. Lorimer photo
Hillary Clinton photo

“I have absolutely no interest in running for president again.”

Hillary Clinton (1947) American politician, senator, Secretary of State, First Lady

ABC News TV interview, 2009-10-14. AFP http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gm7wRjrtKmZ_faPv0UVCgiOClxhg
Secretary of State (2009–2013)

Paula Modersohn-Becker photo
Colin Wilson photo
Milton Friedman photo
Edward Hopper photo

“Though I studied with Robert Henri, I was never a member of the Ash-Can School. You see, it had a sociological trend which didn't interest me. [Hopper then proceeded to inform Kuh that his work contained no social content whatsoever! ]”

Edward Hopper (1882–1967) prominent American realist painter and printmaker

1941 - 1967
Source: 'Edward Hopper' (1962), Katherine Kuh, in 'The Artist's Voice: Interviews with Artists' New York: Harper and Row, 1962:140

Theodore Wilbur Anderson photo
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis photo
John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“Clear and decisive leadership is crucial and we shall deliver it. It is urgent that we work on projecting our party firmly and decisively with the purpose of securing our nation’s interests through Brexit and beyond.”

Margot Parker (1943) UK politician

We Need To Unite To Fight For A Clean Brexit http://www.ukip.org/margot_parker_we_need_to_unite_to_fight_for_a_clean_brexit (November 9, 2017)

David Gross photo
Johannes Grenzfurthner photo
George Biddell Airy photo

“It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheats, to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will.”

Kenneth Tynan (1927–1980) English theatre critic and writer

Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, X, 5. This particular translation of the original Latin is from the essay "On Liberty" by Abraham Cowley: "Sallust, therefore, who was well acquainted with them both and with many such-like gentlemen of his time, says, 'That it is the nature of ambition' (Ambitio multos mortales falsos fieri coegit, etc.) 'to make men liars and cheaters; to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths; to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will.'" http://ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02/cowes10.txt The Wikiquote page for Sallust has the quote and a different translation.
Misattributed

Klaus Kinski photo
Jerome David Salinger photo
Terence McKenna photo
Alan Moore photo
Charles Lyell photo

“Of Dr. Hooker, whom I have often cited in this chapter, Mr. Darwin has spoken in the Introduction to his 'Origin of Species, as one 'who had, for fifteen years, aided him in every possible way, by his large stores of knowledge, and his excellent judgement.' This distinguished botanist published his 'Introductory Essay to the Flora of Australia' in 1859, the year after the memoir on 'Natural Selection' was communicated to the Linnaean Society, and a few months before the appearance of the' Origin of Species.'… no one was better qualified by observation and reflection to give an authoritative opinion on the question, whether the present vegetation of the globe is or is not in accordance with the theory which Mr. Darwin has proposed. We cannot but feel, therefore, deeply interested when we find him making the following declaration: 'The mutual relations of the plants of each great botanical province, and, in fact, of the world generally, is just such as would have resulted if variation had gone on operating throughout indefinite periods, in the same manner as we see it act in a limited number of centuries, so as gradually to give rise in the course of time, to the most widely divergent forms…. The element of mutability pervades the whole Vegetable Kingdom; no class, nor order, nor genus of more than a few species claims absolute exemption from it, whilst the grand total of unstable forms, generally assumed to be species, probably exceeds that of the stable.”

Charles Lyell (1797–1875) British lawyer and geologist

Source: The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man (1863), Ch.21, p. 417-418

Michael Moorcock photo

“Every court must have its fool, every great ideal must attract some who are motivated only by self-interest.”

Book 1, Chapter 7 “A Well-Known Traveler” (p. 413)
The Runestaff (1969)

Johnny Depp photo

“The real movie stars were Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift. How could I put myself in the same category as Clark Gable? Tom Cruise is a great movie star. Do I consider myself a movie star? I consider myself a guy with a good job, an interesting job.”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Quoted in Bernard Weintraub, "Playboy Interview: Johnny Depp," http://www.deppimpact.com/mags/transcripts/playboy_may04.html Playboy (May 2004)

Jay Nordlinger photo

“"Globalism" is often the most self-interested and "nationalist" thing you can do. It has been a bonanza to the United States, for sure. In capitalism, your narrowest interests are advanced by cooperation. A genius system.”

Jay Nordlinger (1963) American journalist

Twitter post https://twitter.com/jaynordlinger/status/1038770310034673664 (9 September 2018)
2010s

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo
Sydney Brenner photo

“Even God wouldn’t get a grant today because somebody on the committee would say, oh those were very interesting experiments (creating the universe), but they’ve never been repeated. And then someone else would say, yes and he did it a long time ago, what’s he done recently? And a third would say, to top it all, he published it all in an un-refereed journal”

Sydney Brenner (1927–2019) South African biologist, Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002

The Bible
2014 interview in The King's Review http://kingsreview.co.uk/magazine/blog/2014/02/24/how-academia-and-publishing-are-destroying-scientific-innovation-a-conversation-with-sydney-brenner/

Pricasso photo

“With his silver shorts and peroxided feather do, this Aussie was more Alex Jay in a low-budget sci-fi porno than rebel retiree with an interest in the Renaissance.”

Pricasso (1949) Australian painter

[Put an end to dangling conversations, Cape Argus, South Africa, 16 September 2008, 13, Independent Online]
About

Jesper Kyd photo

“I am interested in music that, while being experimental, is still great and fun to listen to.”

Jesper Kyd (1972) musician

Teamxbox, Audiophile interview, 2003

Vladimir Lenin photo
Rush Limbaugh photo

“I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve.”

Rush Limbaugh (1951) U.S. radio talk show host, Commentator, author, and television personality

2003 September Sunday NFL Countdown ESPN, quoted in * http://www.laweekly.com/2003-10-16/columns/rise-of-the-anti-machine/2/ Rise of the Anti-Machine: Dittohead Blues LA Weekly 2003-10-09, [ESPN, Limbaugh's comments touch off controversy, October 1, 2003, https://web.archive.org/web/20200220004444/https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=1627887], [Snopes, A list documents racist statements made by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, February 4. 2020, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rush-limbaugh-racist-quotes/], [Rush Limbaugh’s most outrageous moments in 25 years on the radio, August 1, 2013, Morgan, Whitaker, MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/rush-limbaughs-most-outrageous-moments-25], and [Rush Limbaugh now has a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Here are just 20 of the outrageous things he's said, Jason, Silverstein, February 6, 2020, CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rush-limbaugh-presidential-medal-of-freedom-state-of-the-union-outrageous-quotes/].

/ 2000s

Henry Scott Holland photo
Starhawk photo

“There was a plea from honourable Members relating to the need for formal Gross National Product figures. Such figures are very inexact even in the most sophisticated countries I think they do not have a great deal of meaning, even as a basis of comparison between economies. That other countries make use of them is not, I think, necessarily a good reason to suppose that we need them. But, although I am not entirely clear what practical purpose they would serve in Hong Kong, I am sure they would be of interest. I suspect myself, however, that the need arises in other countries because high taxation and more or less detailed Government intervention in the economy have made it essential to be able to judge (or to hope to be able to judge) the effect of policies, and of changes in policies, on the economy. One of the honourable Members who spoke on this subject, said outright, as a confirmed planner, that he thought that they were desirable for the planning of our future economic policy. But we are in the happy position, happier at least for the Financial Secretary where the leverage exercised by Government on the economy is so small that it is not necessary, nor even of any particular value, to have these figures available for the formulation of policy. We might indeed be right to be apprehensive lest the availability of such figures might lead, by a reversal of cause and effect, to policies designed to have a direct effect on the economy. I would myself deplore this.”

John James Cowperthwaite (1915–2006) British colonial administrator

March 25, 1970, page 495.
Official Report of Proceedings of the Hong Kong Legislative Council

Thomas Jefferson photo

“In a democratic republic, where the mass of the people of all parties have the same interest at stake, some respect must be had to the feelings and wishes of the minority, especially when that minority is large and clamorous; otherwise, it will be impossible to avoid discord, and discord weakens the bonds of union.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Account of a conversation with Col. Richard M. Johnson in 1809, as recounted in A Biographical Sketch of Col. Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky, p.12 (Saxton & Miles, New York, 1843)
1800s, Post-Presidency (1809)

Michael E. Uslan photo
Merce Cunningham photo
Harold Innis photo
Ernesto Che Guevara photo
E.M. Forster photo
Kent Hovind photo
James Anthony Froude photo
Andrew Sega photo
Nathanael Greene photo
Andrew Sega photo
Kurt Schuschnigg photo
Frédéric Bazille photo

“The big classical compositions are finished; an ordinary view of daily life would be much more interesting.”

Frédéric Bazille (1841–1870) French painter

Quote by Jean Renoir, in: Renoir my father, p. 96; as quoted in The private lives of the Impressionists, Sue Roe, Harpen Collins Publishers, New York 2006, p. 24

a remark of Bazille, in the winter of 1862 – 63 during a walk with Renoir

the two painters passed a crying baby while its nurse was flirting with a soldier
1861 - 1865

George Soros photo
Christopher Hitchens photo
Donald Barthelme photo
Joni Madraiwiwi photo
Margaret Mead photo
Ahmed Djemal photo
Ferdinand de Saussure photo
E. W. Hobson photo
Jim Henson photo

“I was very interested in theatre—mostly in stage design but I did a little bit of acting.”

Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer

Page 61.
Interview with Judy Harris (1982)

Oliver Sacks photo
Jacob Bronowski photo
Russell L. Ackoff photo
Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon photo
Hamid Karzai photo

“Every time we ignore the suffering of others or stand by and watch, we do not only act against our own interests but we violate a part of our humanity.”

Hamid Karzai (1957) President of Afghanistan

Commencement Address to Boston University Class of 2005 http://www.bu.edu/news/2005/05/22/transcript-of-president-hamid-karzais-commencement-address/ (May 22, 2005)
2005

Richard Nixon photo
Šantidéva photo
Francis Escudero photo
Daniel McCallum photo

“Each officer possesses all the power necessary to render his position efficient, and has the authority with the approval of the President and General Superintendent to appoint all persons for whose acts he is held responsible, and may dismiss any subordinate when, in his judgment, the interest of the company will be promoted thereby.”

Daniel McCallum (1815–1878) Canadian engineer and early organizational theorist

Source: Report of the Superintendent of the New York and Erie Railroad to the Stockholders (1856), p. 40; Cited in Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. (1977) The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. p. 102

Bill Bryson photo
Calvin Coolidge photo