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About this quote

What does it mean?
Willpower comes from both moral conviction and personal benefit.
In plain terms
You act when you think something is right and when it helps you too.
What can you take from it?
Motivation works best when values and self-interest align.

Where it applies

  • decision making
  • ethical choices

Putting it to work

  • value alignment
  • incentive design

Questions to consider

  • When does self-interest corrupt moral will?
  • How do you balance the two?

Another view

Self-interest can override moral sense.

More from Abraham Lincoln

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  2. Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed…

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  3. If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already. It is but a small matter whether you read with anyone …

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