Our desires are, in fact, more general and less purely selfish than many moralists imagine ; if it were not so, no theory of ethics would make moral improvement possible. It is, in fact, not by ethical theory, but by the cultivation of large and generous desires through intelligence, happiness, and freedom from fear, that men can be brought to act more than they do at present in a manner that is consistent with the general happiness of mankind.
Source: Religion and Science, 1935, by Bertrand Russell
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https://russell-j.com/beginner/RS1935_09-130.HTM
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