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Since ancient times, philosophers have maintained that to strive too hard for one's own happiness is self-defeating.

— Peter Singer The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

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More quotes by Peter Singer

If evolution is a struggle for survival, why hasn't it ruthlessly eliminated altruists, who seem to increase another's prospects of survival at the cost of their own?

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

The principles of ethics come from our own nature as social, reasoning beings.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Science does not stand still, and neither does philosophy, although the latter has a tendency to walk in circles.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

There can be no brotherhood when some nations indulge in previously unheard of luxuries, while others struggle to stave off famine.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

Ethics seems a morass which we have to cross, but get hopelessly bogged in when we make the attempt.

The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress (1981)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Peter Singer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.