"People do not cooperate under the division of labor because they love or should love one another. They cooperate because this best serves their own interests. Neither love nor charity nor any other sympathetic sentiments but rightly understood selfishness is what originally impelled man to adjust himself to the requirements of society, to respect the rights and freedoms of his fellow men and to substitute peaceful collaboration for enmity and conflict."
React to this quote
More by Ludwig von Mises
See allResonant Thoughts
"The overseer should be responsible for the duties of the housekeeper. If the master has given her to you for a wife, you should be satisfied with her, and she should respect you. Require that she be n…"
"I’m not for nationalization because of the rhetoric of nationalization, or because I see in nationalization the cure-all for every injustice. I’m for nationalization in cases where it’s necessary."
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"You just said you've been in combat, but you've never been in the military, have you?"
— Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)"Words like "freedom," "justice," "democracy" are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. Peopl…"
— James Baldwin"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice."
— Friedrich Schiller"Remember, just because Microsoft can do something, doesn't mean you can. Microsoft makes their own gravity.…"
— Joel Spolsky"The recently passed law to "end welfare as we know it" came about because a lethargic public has been arous…"
— Harry V. Jaffa"To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread, we were just a family. In a family even ex…"
— John Irving