If people knew how to be truly selfish, we would live in a more generous world.

From Alfred’s journal

A man on the bench by the library fed the pigeons today and looked miserable the whole time. He tore the bread into pieces too small to matter and kept checking over his shoulder, as though generosity were a thing he might be fined for. Switch said he was being kind. I said he was being dutiful, which is a different bird altogether. I used to think the problem with people was that they wanted too much for themselves; I have watched enough benches now to think they want too little, and the wrong things, and are bored by the getting of them. If people knew how to be truly selfish, we would live in a more generous world. The man left half the loaf on the bench and walked off without once watching the birds eat, which is the part I would have stayed for.