Selfish vs Self-Centered – C.S. Lewis
“Such is my ideal, and such then (almost) was the reality of “settled, calm, Epicurean life.”
It is no doubt for my own good that I have been so generally prevented from leading it,
for it is a life almost entirely selfish. Selfish, not self-centered:
for in such a life my mind would be directed toward a thousand things, not one of which is myself.
*selfish ; (of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others;
concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure.
* self centered is someone who only thinks about himself, his own needs and his own interests,
The distinction is not unimportant.
[One of the happiest men and most pleasing companions () I have ever known] was intensely selfish.
On the other hand I have known people /capable of real sacrifice //whose lives were nevertheless a misery
to themselves and to others, because self-concern and self-pity filled all their thoughts.
Either condition will destroy the soul in the end.
But till the end, give me the man //who takes the best of everything (even at my expense)
and then talks of other things,
rather than the man// who serves me and talks of himself,
and whose very kindness are a continual reproach, a continual demand for pity, gratitude, and admiration.”
C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Hartcourt, 1955), 143-144.
Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”