"Self-interest is but the survival of the animal in us. Humanity only begins for man with self-surrender"
- Henri Frederic Amiel
About this Quote
This quote by Henri Frederic Amiel recommends that our natural reaction is to look out for ourselves and our very own rate of interests. This is a fundamental animal impulse that is required for survival. However, Amiel recommends that true humankind starts when we agree to deposit our own rate of interests as well as surrender to something above ourselves. This can imply giving up to a higher power, to a reason, or to a better good. In doing so, we have the ability to transcend our sensual nature as well as become something much more. This quote motivates us to look beyond our very own interests and to think about the higher good. It is just via self-surrender that we can end up being genuinely human.
"Often and often afterwards, the beloved Aunt would ask me why I had never told anyone how I was being treated. Children tell little more than animals, for what comes to them they accept as eternally established"
"Certainly it is wrong to be cruel to animals and the destruction of a whole species can be a great evil. The capacity for feelings of pleasure and pain and for the form of life of which animals are capable clearly impose duties of compassion and humanity in their case"
