From whence it follows, that were the publique and private interest are most closely united, there is the publique most advanced. Thomas Hobbes
The most violent, mean and malignant passions of the human breast, the Furies of private interest. Karl Marx
He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of society as an ideology for his private interest. Theodor Adorno
A curious paradox: people have only the narrowest private interest in mind when they act, yet they are at the same time more than ever determined in their behavior by the instincts of the mass. ... The diversity of individual goals is immaterial in face of the identity of the determining forces. Walter Benjamin
The common run of moralists complain that man is moved by his private self-interest: would to heaven it were so! Private interest is a self-centered principle of action, but at the same time restricted, reasonable and incapable of giving rise to unlimited evils. Simone Weil
The fear of hell, or aiming to be blest, savors too much of private interest. Edmund Waller