interest

In the first place, most princes apply themselves to the arts of war, in which I have neither ability nor interest, instead of to the good arts of peace. Theyare generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms by hook or by crook than on governing well those that theyalready have.

—More, SirThomas

   It is the business of a statesman to judge of the expediency of different schemes of economy, and by degrees to model the minds of his subjects so as to induce them from the allurement of private interest to concur in the execution of his plan.

—Steuart (later Denham), SirJames

Observation is always selective. It needs a chosen object, a definite task, an interest, a point of view, a problem.

—Popper, Sir Karl Raimund

  All that is really necessary for survival of the fittest, it seems, is an interest in life, good, bad, or peculiar.

—Paley, Grace ne¤  e  Goodside

Every individual†intends only his own gain, and he is in this as in many other cases led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention† By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the publick good.

—Smith, Adam

The casehas, insome respects, beennot entirelydevoid of interest.

—Doyle, SirArthur Conan

Youth, beauty, graceful action seldom fail: But common interest always will prevail: And pity never ceases to be shown To him, who makes the people's wrongs his own.

—Dryden,John

  In the sphere of natural investigation, as in poetry and painting, the delineation of that which appeals most strongly to the imagination, derives its collective interest from the vivid truthfulness with which the individual features are portrayed.

—Humboldt, Alexander, Baron von

Among the calamities of War may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Information, freefrominterestorprejudice, freefromthe vanity of the writer or the influence of a Government, is as necessary to the human mind as pure air and water to the human body.

—Rees-Mogg,William Rees-Mogg, Baron

The patent system†added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius.

—Lincoln, Abraham

O bom era ter uma intelige"  ncia e na‹  o entender. Era uma be"  n c° a‹  o estranha como a de ter loucura sem ser doida. Era um desinteresse manso em rela c° a‹  o a'  s coisas ditas do intelecto, uma do c° ura de estupidez. What was good was to have intelligence and yet not understand. It was a strange blessing like experiencing madness without being mad. It was a gentle lack of interest with respect to the so-called things of the intellect, a sweet stupidity.

—Lispector, Clarice

The interest in life does not lie in what people do, nor even in their relations to each other, but largely in the power to communicate with a third party, antagonistic, enigmatic, yet perhaps persuadable, which one may call life in general.

—Woolf, (Adeline) Virginia ne¤  e Stephen

The community is a fictitious body, composed of the individual personswhoare considered asconstituting as it were its members.The interest of the community then, Bentley is what? The sum of the interests of the several members who compose it.

—Bentham,Jeremy

   A town of narrow streets, old houses, shops curiously low, with little in it to interest any one.

—Thorne,James

   I have no interest in anything but genius, so please sit down.

—Langner, Lawrence

It was unhealthyand unsafe, and of no interest whatever. 'But what,' I said,'about thetigers ?' 'Tigers, perhaps,' he replied pityingly,'but no culture.'

—Maclean, Sir Fitzroy Hew

It is not a correct deduction from the Principles of Economics that enlightened self-interest always operates in the public interest† Experience does not show that individuals when they make up a social unit are always less clear-sighted than when they act separately.

—Keynes (of Tilton),John Maynard, 1st Baron

The public interest may be presumed to be what men would choose if they saw clearly, thought rationally, acted disinterestedly and benevolently.

—Lippmann,Walter

It isnot fromthebenevolence ofthebutcher, thebrewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

—Smith, Adam

I envy you if you're able to sustain a uniform degree of interest throughout Ulysses.People are always saying they do. People also claim to be clairvoyant and to levitate.

—Bowles, Paul Frederick

Onegoestoseeatragedy tobe moved, tothe opera one goes either for want of any other interest or to facilitate digestion.

—Voltaire pseudonym of  Fran c° ois Marie Arouet

Sex is engaging in the first rounds but what sustains interest in the long run is power.

—Jiang Qing or  Chiang Ch'ing