---
title: "1 Being selfish Quotes By Stephen L. Carter"
description: "1 Being selfish quotes by Stephen L. Carter. Plus more from Stephen L. Carter and more Being selfish sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/647/stephen-l-carter-24991_affection_true-love-is-not-the-helpless-desire-to_2101503.jpg"
---

> [True love is not the helpless desire to possess the cherished object of one's fervent affection; true love is the disciplined generosity we require of ourselves for the sake of another when we would rather be selfish; that, at least,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/true-love-is-not-the-helpless-desire-to-possess-the-cherished-object/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/647/stephen-l-carter-24991_affection_true-love-is-not-the-helpless-desire-to_2101503.jpg)

## More by Stephen L. Carter

> [Teasing out the way the world might look through another's eyes is what makes the creative process so fascinating and enjoyable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/teasing-out-the-way-the-world-might-look-through-another-s-eyes-is/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [In contemporary American culture, the religions are more and more treated as just passing beliefs - almost as fads - rather than as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/in-contemporary-american-culture-the-religions-are-more-and-more/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [Lots of white people think black people are stupid. They are stupid themselves for thinking so, but regulation will not make them smarter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/lots-of-white-people-think-black-people-are-stupid-they-are-stupid/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [Every conflict plagues the peace that follows it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/every-conflict-plagues-the-peace-that-follows-it/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [One sees a trend in our political and legal cultures toward treating religious beliefs as arbitrary and unimportant, a trend supported by a rhetoric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/one-sees-a-trend-in-our-political-and-legal-cultures-toward-treating/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [You should never fall in love with your own press clippings, because it is very much the nature of the beast that the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/you-should-never-fall-in-love-with-your-own-press-clippings-because/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [We often ask our citizens to split their public and private selves, telling them in effect that it is fine to be religious in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/we-often-ask-our-citizens-to-split-their-public-and-private-selves/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [We do not credit to the ideal of religious freedom when we talk as though religious belief is something of which public-spirited adults should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/we-do-not-credit-to-the-ideal-of-religious-freedom-when-we-talk-as/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [“Nastiness devalues the speaker as well because the unwillingness to restrain the urge marks the speaker as less civilized, more animal-like.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/nastiness-devalues-the-speaker-as-well-because-the-unwillingness-to/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [There is much depressing evidence that the religious voice is required to stay out of the public square only when it is pressed in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/there-is-much-depressing-evidence-that-the-religious-voice-is/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [“Love is an activity, not a feeling…True love is not the helpless desire to possess the cherished object of one’s fervent affection; true love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/love-is-an-activity-not-a-feeling-true-love-is-not-the-helpless/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [But that is the way of the place: down our many twisting corridors, one encounters story after story, some heroic, some villainous, some true,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/but-that-is-the-way-of-the-place-down-our-many-twisting-corridors-one/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [In our sensible zeal to keep religion from dominating our politics, we have created a political and legal culture that presses the religiously faithful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/in-our-sensible-zeal-to-keep-religion-from-dominating-our-politics-we/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [Richard John Neuhaus, in his well-known book The Naked Public Square, tells us that in America, the public square has become openly hostile to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/richard-john-neuhaus-in-his-well-known-book-the-naked-public-square/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

> [Love is a gift we deliver when we would rather not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-l-carter/love-is-a-gift-we-deliver-when-we-would-rather-not/)

[Stephen L. Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-l-carter/)

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