Literary notes about altruism (AI summary)
In literature, altruism is crafted as a complex, multifaceted concept that both celebrates selfless virtue and questions its practical limits. Some writers extol altruism as essential for ethical living and social harmony, portraying it as a noble, even divinely inspired trait ([1], [2], [3]), while others cast it in a more ambivalent light—suggesting that its manifestations can sometimes mask selfish intentions or even prove counterproductive in realms like business and politics ([4], [5], [6]). Moreover, authors frequently juxtapose altruism with egoism to highlight the tension between individual desire and communal well-being, inviting readers to reconsider the true nature of moral sacrifice and human interdependence ([7], [8], [9]).
- With Comte she said, "Altruism alone can enable us to live in the highest and truest sense."
— from George Eliot; a Critical Study of Her Life, Writings and Philosophy by George Willis Cooke - To be a good teacher demands a high degree of altruism, for one must be willing to sink self, to die—as it were—that others may live.
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 06
Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Artists by Elbert Hubbard - [123] Forethought for others is the most intelligent altruism.
— from Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought by Horace Fletcher - [289] She flushed, noticing this, and said: "Altruism is a luxury in business matters; selfishness of the justifiable sort a necessity.
— from Quick Action by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers - In short: the cult of altruism is merely a particular form of egoism, which regularly appears under certain definite physiological circumstances.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - (Egotism may be regarded as the pre-eminence of the ego, altruism as the pre-eminence of others .)
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - “Altruism,” say they, “is the getting of a man to do something worth something for nothing.”
— from Minerva's Manoeuvres: The Cheerful Facts of a "Return to Nature" by Charles Battell Loomis - "Egoism" and "altruism" are both one-sided qualities arising out of the perversion of man's, "natural goodness.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Altruism and egoism are both based upon the essence of life and nature.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche